The cause of death of a young humpback whale that washed up on Long Beach in Simon’s Town earlier this month is undetermined, according to the Mammal Research Institute (MRI).
Long Beach was cordoned off on Tuesday October 15 by the City’s coastal management branch and SANParks in preparation for the removal of the carcass, and officials of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) collected DNA samples.
The whale was identified as a young female that was first seen near Dyer Island off the coast of Gansbaai in June this year, according to Happywhale, a global citizen science project that engages citizen scientists in identifying individual marine mammals by submitting photographs of whales (“Young humpback whale identified after washing ashore in Simon’s Town,” Echo, October 16).
Chris Wilkinson, from the MRI Whale Unit, said samples had been taken from the whale for future studies.
He said 90% of the time, the cause of death for mammals was undetermined unless there were distinct serious injuries to it.
He said the young female that had washed up on Long Beach was under nine metres which is categorised as a sub-adult and it is estimated that she was about two years old.
He said her body condition was poor and there were signs of a previous injury or trauma. She also had whale lice which prevents wounds from healing, especially in whales with poor body condition.
The carcass was removed from the water with a bulldozer, loaded onto a flatbed truck and taken to a landfill site in Vissershok.
