Whale carcass buried on beach
The carcass of a 12m Bryde's whale that washed up on Kleinkrantz beach last week was buried on the beach yesterday morning, Wednesday 14 February.
Marine Ranger for Wilderness, Jonathan Britton said they could not throw it back into the sea due to it posing other hazards.
"The whale was buried on the beach behind the dune above the watermark, where there
is the least amount of disturbance. Burying it would allow the smell and the fat to seep through to the sea when it decomposes," he said.
Members of the Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team (Smart) were greeted by the sad sight of the carcass when they arrived at the beach last Friday morning, 9 February.
The team was called out at around 11:30 after members of Working on Fire (WoF) saw the carcass.
According to Dr Gwenith Penry, the principal investigator of the Southern African Bryde's whale project and postdoctoral researcher at Nelson Mandela University, the animal was a fully grown adult male. "They reach maturity after about 15 years and can live for an average of 40 - 50. It's difficult to give the exact age of this specific animal," she told the George Herald. "Unfortunately the cause of death cannot
be determined as it has been dead for a week to 10 days already.
“There are no obvious signs of injury and toxicology or pathology tests can only be done on fresh carcasses. It is possible that it died of natural causes."
Removing the carcass
Penry said removing large whales is a very expensive and logistically difficult task.
"An animal this size weighs around 15 tons. In ideal situations it would be best to leave the carcass to decompose in the environment as it provides food for other organisms and puts nutrients back into the ecosystem. Obviously this becomes problematic when humans live nearby a decomposing carcass, and there are concerns about it attracting sharks."
She says the delay in moving this specific animal is due to several factors, including getting the necessary permission to use heavy trucks on the beach as well as waiting for suitable conditions.
Facts about the Bryde's whale
Bryde's whales live on our coastline all year round. They feed on small fish such as sardine and anchovy. According to Penry they can be seen as close as just behind the surf zone and 200m deep into the water. They don't go beyond the
continental shelf.
The South African population of Bryde's whales was assessed as vulnerable in 2016 during the Red Data List assessment. There are currently only about 500 along the coast.
They are masters of stealth, moving at 35 - 40 km/h and are very difficult to
follow and get close to. They are baleen whales, which means they don't have teeth and take huge gulps of water and fish to feed. They then push the water out using their large tongues, leaving the fish behind. They have a prominent dorsal fin situated two thirds down the body near the tail. Calves are 4m long at birth.