One of 14 dead sperm whales washed up on a beach on King Island, north of Tasmania, Australia, on Tuesday.
Tasmania Department of Natural Resources and Environment via AP
hide captions
switch captions
Tasmania Department of Natural Resources and Environment via AP
One of 14 dead sperm whales washed up on a beach on King Island, north of Tasmania, Australia, on Tuesday.
Tasmania Department of Natural Resources and Environment via AP
CANBERRA, Australia – Australian wildlife authorities are investigating the deaths of 14 young sperm whales discovered washed up on an island off the southeast coast, officials said on Tuesday.
The state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment said the whales were spotted Monday afternoon on King Island, part of Tasmania in Bass Strait between Melbourne and Tasmania’s north coast.
A team from the government’s Marine Conservation Program arrived on the island on Tuesday and are conducting a dissection of the whales to try to determine the cause of their death.
Photos distributed by the department show the whales lying on their sides in shallow water on the island’s rocky shore.
Authorities planned to conduct an aerial survey to determine if there were other whales in the area.
The department said it was not unusual for sperm whales to be seen in Tasmania and the area where they were found on the beach was within their normal range and habitat.
The Environment Department said: “While further investigations have yet to be carried out, it is possible that these whales were part of the same cephalopod group – a group of younger male sperm whales that joined together later in life. when leaving the parent group”.
Meanwhile, surfers and swimmers have been warned to avoid the nearby area in case the whale carcass attracts sharks to nearby waters.
Two years ago, about 470 longfin pilot whales was found washed ashore off the west coast of Tasmania in the largest mass stranding recorded in Australia.
After a week-long effort, 111 of those whales were rescued but the rest died.
