A 10-Ton Whale Was Found in the Amazon Rainforest and Scientists Are Baffled
When scavenging vultures alerted local officials with their screeching, a 36-foot-long whale (yes, a whale) was discovered in Brazil’s remote jungle, miles from its natural habitat.
The Amazon rainforest is teeming with life, but one recent discovery has even seasoned wildlife experts and biologists perplexed. They discovered the carcass of a 10-ton humpback whale in the undergrowth of Brazil’s Marajó Island.
According to preliminary theories, the whale washed ashore during a storm or was already dead when rising tides carried it on land. Scientists are baffled as to how it got so far inland or why it was swimming off the Marajó coast at all.
Marine experts from the local conservation organization Bicho D’agua Institute are now examining the carcass, with preliminary findings indicating that the young whale died a few days before being discovered 50 feet from the shore. Renata Emin, the project’s leader, is enthralled by the mammal’s discovery and intrigued by its journey.
“We’re still not sure how it got here,” she explained. “We’re guessing that the creature was floating close to the shore and the tide, which has been pretty high over the last few days, picked it up and threw it inland, into the mangrove.”
“In addition to this incredible feat, we are perplexed as to what a humpback whale is doing on the north coast of Brazil in February because this is a very unusual occurrence,” she added.
Humpback whales are typically found in the late summer and fall seasons, but they can be found much further south. They only go north to the Amazon River’s mouth on rare occasions. The young animal was separated from its mother, according to Emin, but the cause of death is still unknown.
“Some information may have already been lost depending on the state of decomposition,” Emin explained. “We’re gathering as much information as we can and identifying marks and wounds on its body to determine whether it was caught in a net or struck by a boat.”
According to State Department official Dirlene Silva, access to the carcass and the region where it was discovered is so difficult that it had to be pulled apart and examined on the spot.
“It’s very difficult to get there, and we can’t send a bulldozer because it wouldn’t fit,” Silva explained. “There is no way to get rid of it.” We need to cross the swamp to get there.”
The location where the carcass was discovered.
There are currently no plans to remove the carcass due to its size, weight, and location. Instead, the majority of it will be buried, while the skeleton will be sent to the Goeldi Natural History Museum in Belem for further study.
Hopefully, this will be the first step toward determining what happened to this unfortunate baby humpback – but no one knows for sure right now.
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