Travels of "Flex," a Satellite-tagged Western Pacific Gray Whale
Flex's tag transmitted signals only 4 hours per day to conserve battery power. Tags like his normally lasted an average of 116 days before they fell off. Flex exceeded that average, traveling over 7,500 Km before his tag failed in February 2011, somewhere off the Oregon or California Coast.

This research was conducted by A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) and Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute; in collaboration with the University of Washington, Sakhalin Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, and Kronotsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve. The research was contracted through the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with funding from Exxon Neftegas Ltd. and Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd.