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Dead whale - Helmsdale (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter GeorgeMac
- Start date
Welsh Peregrine
Well-known member
Best guess; Sperm Whale, by the dorsal shape, and the presence of what appear to be tooth sockets in the lower jaws.
It looks a bit far gone for a necropsy but reporting it would be good.
UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme
ukstrandings.org
Farnboro John
Well-known member
I'm not sure those are tooth sockets: the teeth in a Sperm Whale are simple pegs and those holes are at a very steep angle to the jaw. Also, a Sperm Whale's jaws are nearly straight and these have much more the arch of a baleen whale's jaw.
That said the back seems to have a hump rather than a dorsal so I suggest a young Humpback maybe?
John
That said the back seems to have a hump rather than a dorsal so I suggest a young Humpback maybe?
John
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Not if they've been bitten off by predators or rubbed off by rolling in the surf when already seriously decayed. Not sure about the blowhole - but I'm not sure about the diagnosis, just that on the most solid evidence (the jawbones) it isn't a Sperm Whale.
John
Welsh Peregrine
Well-known member
True, a check reveals that the blowhole is totally wrong for Sperm Whale.
Sangahyando
Well-known member
Indeed, the trianguar arrangement of the jawbones (kind of reminiscent of a cephalopod
) and head should rule out anything other than a baleen whale.I do wonder though why this carcass hasn't been more popular with scavengers. There should be enough foxes, gulls, WTEs and crows around. Or have they judged it to be inedible?
nicklittlewood
Well-known member
Aha - I saw that one about a month ago - though looks like it washed a little further up the beach since then. Will try to dig out some of my pics and post later, though they probably won't add much.
nicklittlewood
Well-known member
Here we go...
Attachments
Paul Penzance
Well-known member
Definitely a baleen whale and on size a Minke, obviously badly decomposing but not a Humpback as I would assume tubercles on the rostrum would still be visible.
