Puri: A 40-ft long and 18-ft width carcass of a baleen whale was found at Balukhand beach here Thursday.
Sources said the carcass of the marine mammal was lying at a beach near Balukhand-Konark wildlife sanctuary in the district. Some people spotted the giant animal in the morning before they informed the forest officials.
The forest officials rushed to the spot and conducted a measurement of the large whale. The carcass was badly decomposed. The forest officials buried the carcass near the beach after measuring the height and width of sea animal.
Although the exact cause of death of the whale is yet to be ascertained, the officials say most of these species live in deep sea and once they unwittingly come to the shore, they fail to return to the deep waters and die due to unsuitable conditions.
The carcass of a 15-ft long whale was found at Harachandi estuary near Brahmagiri here in November 2009. Similarly, a 32-ft carcass of a sperm whale was recovered at Keluni estuary near Astarang December 3, 2014. The skeleton of the whale has been preserved at the Regional Museum of Natural History in Bhubaneswar.
Another carcass of a sperm whale measuring 30-ft was found at a beach near Gouda Nuagoan in Krushnaprasad block of Puri district December 26, 2014. Similarly, a 32-ft sperm whale was found dead near Rushikulya estuary in Kantiagarh in Ganjam district February 3 last year.
A 60-ft long whale was found at Chanjhiri estuary near Pentha beach in Kendrapara district. This apart, a 32-ft long whale was found dead at Baliharachandi near Brahmagiri February 9 last year. Another carcass of a whale measuring 38-ft was also found near Manglanadi estuary in Puri February 16 last year.
DFO Chittaranjan Mishra said, “The whales live in deep water. We suspect they die in the deep water before they are washed ashore. Another possibility is that they may come to the shore and cannot return due to shallowness of the coast and die.”
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