HUMPBACK WHALE SAMPLING
September 28, 2010 by dyertrust
A call was received telling us about a washed up whale at a nearby stretch of beach called Die Plaat.The crew headed off to gather samples which we send to Mammal Research Institute (University of Pretoria) and Oceans and Coasts (Department of Environmental Affairs).
It was a juvenile humpback male whale, 10.2m long. Although it was in a good condition with a thick layer of blubber, it was starting to decompose so we could not do a full necropsy. Cause of death uncertain at this point. There were some post mortem shark bites and no boat marks that were evident.
We took four samples of:
blubber
baleen
barnacles
muscle (a small sample, since it was hard to get to it)
See video below for more information.
Katja Vinding Petersen
