Researchers are investigating the rare stranding of a 23-metre female fin whale near Gansbaai in the Overberg region, after the mammal washed ashore earlier this week.
The Marine Dynamics and Dyer Island Conservation Trust say the whale was first spotted floating in Walker Bay by a local whale-watching operator.
Head of Research, Dr Loraine Shuttleworth says they confirmed it was a fin whale, the world’s second-largest whale species, using distinctive features.
“It’s very important for us to collect information on that so that we can inform better conservation and management. On the initial, we just did the measurements and took some preliminary samples, just skin and blubber and then we returned on Friday so that we could get some baleen plates out.
“Baleen is a very important sample type, because it kind of keeps a record of the last couple of years of the whale’s life. You can sample that baleen and send it for stable isotope analysis which will tell you about migrations and about foraging and for endocrine. Hormone analysis can tell you things like if your whale is in a stressful situation or it can tell you about pregnancy history, so frequency of calving, all of that type of thing. That’s a very critical sample,” Dr Shuttleworth explains.
A Rare Stranding Leaves Scientists Searching for Answers
Our DICT research team responded to the stranding of a 23-metre female fin whale—the second-largest whale species on Earth
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