Rare Whale Washes Up Dead With Plastic Blocking Its Gut

This is the rare whale which has washed up dead on a beach with a plastic cup blocking its intestine leaving it “emaciated”.

The rare pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) weighing over 200 kilogrammes (440 lbs) washed up on a beach in the village of Matina Aplaya, in the city of Davao City, in the southern Philippine’s Davao Region.

Credit: AsiaWire/@darrell.blatchley.9
The pygmy whale was three meters long and weighed more than 200 kilos

Marine biologist Darrell Blatchley posted photos of the whale onto social media and said that the animal had died because a “plastic cup” was blocking its intestine along with a “nylon rope”, leaving the animal “emaciated” and dehydrated.

Photos show the plastic which was found inside the three-metre (10-foot) whale which can be seen in the mud on the beach.

Credit: AsiaWire
During the necropsy, Darrell Blatchley discovered plastic cups and nylon ropes

Blatchley said that dumping rubbish into the sea was a “nationwide problem” in the Philippines.

Pygmy sperm whales are rarely spotted in the sea and knowledge about the species is limited.

Credit: AsiaWire
Marine biologist Darrell Blatchley said the death was caused by dehydration and blocked intestine due to [a] plastic cup and Nylon rope

Analysis of stomach contents suggests that pygmy sperm whales feed primarily on cephalopods with the most common prey are reported to include squid and octopus. The total population is unknown and it is found throughout the tropical and temperate waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

A Greenpeace study in 2017 found the Philippines was the third-largest plastic polluter of the sea in the world.


To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Alex Cope, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: AsiaWire Report


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