Rare 10-foot whale mysteriously washes ashore in Australia, video shows
A rare dwarf sperm whale mysteriously washed ashore in Australia, prompting an official investigation, according to news reports.
Beachgoers in Adelaide — a city on the coast of South Australia — stumbled upon the deceased marine mammal on Feb. 8, according to 7NEWS Adelaide.
Measuring about 10 feet in length, the stranded carcass was found lying on its side, partially submerged in sand, video footage shows.
Rangers from the country's National Parks and Wildlife Service were quickly dispatched to remove the remains.
'To see it washed up on shore, it's really sad,' local resident William Pyke told the outlet. 'It's really hard to know kind of how it ended up here.'
A 'thorough investigation' will be conducted to determine a cause of death, according to ABC News Australia.
The species — a type of toothed whale and close relative of the pygmy sperm whale — is believed to be a rare visitor to Australian waters.
Previous sighting
Pyke, a co-owner and operator of the tour boat company Temptation Sailing, said this was not the first time he'd seen the whale.
In fact, just two days earlier, he had spotted the animal alive and swimming about two miles offshore, he told ABC.
'During our Wild Dolphin Tour yesterday morning we were completely amazed when we spotted a Dwarf Sperm Whale,' the company said in a Feb. 7 Facebook post. 'Initially, we had no idea what it was, first mistaking it for a large male sea lion in the distance. However, as we got closer we soon (realized) it was definitely something a little more exciting!'
Photos posted by the company show the animal, with its distinctive, curved dorsal fin, swimming at the surface.
The species has only been documented in the waters off Australia on one occasion, according to the post, and strandings are rare.
The marine mammals reside in tropical and temperate parts of the world's oceans, and in the U.S., they are often sighted around the Hawaiian Islands, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Much about the species remains unknown due, in part, to the difficult nature of studying them.
'One fun fact about these guys is that when they're startled they use a similar technique to squid and octopus, releasing a cloud of reddish-brown intestinal fluid as (a defense) mechanism,' the tour boat company's post said.
Potential causes of death
The animal had some cuts and blood on its underside, Pyke told ABC News Australia, adding that it could have been sick or gotten confused in the shallows.
Sean Todd, the director of Allied Whale, a marine mammals research program at College of the Atlantic, told McClatchy News, 'There are many physiological or pathogen-driven reasons why cetaceans might live-strand.'
'Sometimes it may be as simple as a navigational error,' Todd said. 'If the animal has the ability to echolocate, some coastlines can return cryptic echoes, making the beach a sonar trap—as far as the animal knows, they are in open water, but in fact the beach is swallowing.'
There could have been behavioral reasons, or it simply could have been weak and old.
'It could be all or some of these acting in concert,' Todd said. 'There is no 'one thing' that unites all strandings in common.'
Investigations to determine how a whale died is also a time-consuming process.
'It takes three to four months,' Todd previously told McClatchy News. 'If you're lucky you might get to prove cause of death, but often we don't get to do that.'
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