"There are a little more than 500 of these majestic whales left."

"One of the rarest whales in the world has been spotted off the coast of South Carolina for the first time in three years.

An endangered North Atlantic right whale nicknamed Chiminea was seen earlier this month swimming near Folly Beach, not far from Charleston....

It was the first confirmed sighting of a right whale off South Carolina in three years, according to the Post and Courier newspaper.

Right whales reach lengths of up to 55 feet, which is longer than a school bus, and weigh as much as 140,000 pounds, which is nearly the weight of an empty space shuttle."

Ed Mazza reports for the Huffington Post January 18, 2016. [2]