Footage of a sperm whale stranded on a beach in Cornwall, UK on July 10.
The video, filmed on Perran Beach at Perranporth, shows the young, female sperm whale on the sand after it possibly swam too close to the beach at high tide and ended up getting stuck when the tide receded.
The whale eventually died despite attempts to save it.
In July 2016 a 10.3m young female sperm whale was stranded on Perran Beach at Perranporth Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It had swum close to the beach at high tide and became stuck as the tide receded. According to data at The collaborative UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme it is thought to be the first confirmed female sperm whale recorded in the UK in over 100 years.
This is the official release from the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme- UK strandings after a two day post-mortem --
The sperm whale (national reference SW2016/340) which live stranded and died at Perranporth beach on Sunday was examined by the CSIP and by staff and volunteers from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network/Exeter University over the course of Monday afternoon through into Tuesday morning. It was a 10.3m long adult female, which was judged to be in reasonable nutritional condition. The gastrointestinal tract was empty, with bile staining present through much of the intestinal tract, indicating a period of no feeding. Light burdens of nematode parasites and small quantities of squid beaks were also found in the stomachs, but no evidence of marine debris ingestion was noted. No gross evidence of significant disease was found, or any traumatic lesions consistent with ship strike or entanglement.
Globally, segregation exists between male and female sperm whales, including in North Atlantic populations, with the matriarchal pods containing females normally resident in temperate to tropical waters much further south of the UK, whereas males generally travel in more temperate waters. We have historically only ever had juvenile/subadult male sperm whale strandings in the UK and this is the first confirmed female sperm whale to be recorded stranded in the UK, since routine collection of strandings data by the Natural History Museum began in 1913, illustrating the unusual nature of this stranding event. This was also only the sixth sperm whale to be recorded stranded in Cornwall in this same 100+ year period.
The whale died from the pathophysiological effects of live stranding, but there's still a question of whether there was any underlying problem with it, which might explain why it stranded. We collected a large range of samples and specimens, which may help shed light on whether the whale was sick or compromised in some way and will also help further our understanding of a species which can be difficult to study. Samples for bacterial culture have been collected, along with a range of samples for further collaborative studies including histopathology, genetics, toxicology, virology, osteoblast (bone cell) culture, age/diet analysis and life history studies.
