A BLUE WHALE STRANDING
A blue whale was recently found dead on a beach in Skagafjörður, on the northwest coast of Iceland. Those are big news as it is very rare to find a dead blue whale on shore.
Finding stranded whales around the Icelandic coast is not uncommon. In most cases though, smaller whales are the ones to strand, but not a giant blue whale like this one. Blue whales are in fact the world’s biggest animals and can reach a length of 33 metres and 190 tons! This particular whale measures about 23 metres. Scientists believe it is quite young and died some time ago before washing ashore.
Way back, whales and their utilisation were vital to the survival of the Icelanders. When a beached whale was found, it was divided according to fixed rules and could mean the difference between life and death by starvation for many people. Today though, this is a complete different matter.
Many different ideas have come up on what to do with the blue whale. Now it has been decided that the government has donated money to save the skeleton of the whale, which is to be put up in the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. As blue whales haven’t been hunted for many decades, only a few whole blue whale skeletons exist in the world!
One of our Gentle Giants guides, Peter Waltl, made his way to Skagafjörður to take a look at the stranded whale. According to him it was interesting to see this huge animal, but he still rather enjoys it more to see a blue whale alive in the wild nature of Skjálfandi Bay.
Photos taken by Peter Waltl:
DA