A massive sperm whale was spotted rushing along a highway as astonished motorists gazed on.
On a section of the M62 yesterday, the 12-meter-long beast was observed chained to the back of a flatbed truck.
Concerned motorists wondered what was going on when the giant whale was brought down the busy route near Junction 38 for North Cave in East Yorkshire at around 3 p.m.
Real or fake whale?
Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images
Watch out for sperm whales on the M62, according to one Twitter user who posted a video of the huge species, as per The Mirror.
The mystery, however, was quickly solved.
The whale was thought to be an extremely lifelike replica. A false imitation whale has appeared as an art project in Redcar on Teesside, and more recently in Whitehaven, Cumbria, in the last fortnight.
Captain Boomer Collective, a Belgian creative collective that specializes in developing location-based events that probe the borders between reality and imagination, created the whale.
The 'Whale' artwork comprises a facsimile of a 12-meter long sperm whale that has been "beached" on the beach. Artists take on the roles of scientists conducting a post-mortem investigation.
The whale is erected overnight at each spot and emits a decaying odor, boosting the impression of authenticity.
The goal of the art piece is to spark conversation about pollution and the environment.
The beached whale is a massive metaphor for the devastation of our natural system, according to Captain Boomer Collective.
People believe their connection to nature is strained. The tension between fantasy and reality is heightened by the game.
Sperm whales are the biggest of the toothed whales, with one of the most extensive worldwide ranges of any marine animal, as per NOAA.
They can be found in all deep waters, from the equator to the Arctic and Antarctic pack ice edge.
From 1800 through the 1980s, commercial whaling drastically reduced sperm whale populations around the world.
Commercial whaling was banned by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. The species is still recuperating, and its population is anticipated to grow.
The majority of sperm whales are dark grey, while some have white spots on their bellies.
They are the only surviving cetaceans with a single asymmetrically placed blowhole on the left side of the top of the skull.
Their heads are enormous, making up around one-third of their whole-body length.
The skin behind the ears is frequently wrinkled. Their lower jaw is thin and white in the area nearest to their teeth.
The inside of the mouth is frequently dazzling white.
Each side of the lower jaw has between 20 and 26 big teeth. The upper jaw teeth seldom break through the gums.
When female sperm whales are approximately 9 years old and 29 feet long, they attain sexual maturity. Growth slows at this time, and they only have a calf once every five to seven years.
A single 13-foot-long calf is born after a 14 to 16-month gestation period. Calves will take solid food before they become one year old, although they will continue to breastfeed for several years.
Around the age of 30, females reach their maximum length and physical maturity, measuring up to 35 feet long.
Men are marginally bigger than females for the first ten years of life, but males continue to grow significantly until they are well into their 30s.
Males achieve physical maturity around the age of 50 and are around 52 feet long.
Male puberty is longer than female puberty and can last anywhere from 10 to 20 years.
Despite the fact that males are sexually mature at this age, they rarely engage in breeding until their late twenties.
Most females will create enduring ties with other females in their family, and on average, a social institution of 12 females and their children will form.
