In a very rare event, the body of a dead blue whale has washed up on a beach in North Iceland, causing quite a stir in the scientific community.
The carcass was discovered by archaeologists from the Skagafjordur Heritage Museum in North Iceland on a beach near the abandoned Asbud farm on the Skagi peninsula on Monday.
The whale is reported to be around 21.8 metres-long and has probably been dead for quite a long time, according to Jacob Kasper, a specialist at the Icelandic Marine Research Institute and recent graduate of the University Centre of the Westfjords’ Coastal and Marine Management Master’s degree programme. Kasper and associates took samples from the carcass on Wednesday.
Morgunbladid reports Gudmundur Gudmundsson, secondary director of the Natural History Museum of Iceland, as saying that the museum is interested in displaying the whale’s skeleton.
He said the museum would like to display the skeleton in a prominent place worthy of its value: “We thought it was right to react straight away because this is, in fact, the only way to acquire a specimen of this type of whale—they are completely protected,” he said.
Gudmundsson added that it is extremely rare for the carcasses of blue whales to drift ashore anywhere. “It has happened in this country before, but not in recent decades”.
Blue whales are the biggest creatures to have ever lived on Earth. They can grow up to 30 metres and weigh up to 150 tonnes.
The whale was probably stressed out with what all is going on with humans on land (and what they do in the water). Over here, we got fish jumping out of the water onto land to just get a breath of fresh air.
When us humans kill everything of a buck, I am sure we will rationalize and just tell our kids that humans won the battle; survival of the fittest. But their kids will tell a different story, that cooperation was needed for animal life to sure and this includes the human animal. And soon, humans will be extinct, so the real kingdom can survive again (without humans).
I use to draw blue whales with pencil and paper. I bet I would cry if I saw that whale dead on my beach. I would be mad at people.
I agree with Mike Rivero on the chance that could be the toxins that BP sprayed on the Gulf what caused the Whale to die… most probably… hey, any chance to autopsy the whale? That way we know for sure!
Sure this just HAS to be the result of the Icelandic people….right?….starvation much anyone?
Macrel and Whale population increse + global warming has probably nothing to do with it, or has it?
hmm..wonder why sea birds have been not able to bread for the last years, it certainly hasn’t been because of “over-exploiding” by humans can it? Truth is that even species that aren’t hunted by humans are not breeding because of feeding trouble, this is either because of other species compeeting for the food or warming of the water thus resulting in the food moving more north.
Which it is, is anyones guess.
How many years has it now been since we had a substansial quota in “loðna”?, when did macrel start to visit us again since the 60′?
and when did the great fallout of breeding of Puffins in Westman Islands start?
Always a conspiracy theory. Could the whale have died simply of old age?