Nature’s greatest giant washes ashore at Paturau
An observer (right) studies the mouth of the blue whale at Paturau. Photo: Ina Holst.
A 150-tonne blue whale was found by paua divers on Tuesday last week, washed ashore about 7 kilometres south of the Whanganui Inlet. Since then, a steady stream of curious visitors has been scrambling along the coast at low tide to get a glimpse of the 21-metre-long carcass.
“It would have been worthwhile to set up a coffee cart or a sausage sizzle,” commented Rainer Fredrick from Nelson. “It was impressive, but it is also getting quite smelly.”
Several shark bites from a jaw approximately half a metre wide were evident on the carcass, and most of the tail had been chewed off, but it was unlikely that this was the reason it had died, said Department of Conservation biodiversity manager Hans Stoffregen.
He said it was impossible to tell how the whale had died, but it had a broken mandible that may have been caused by a collision with a ship, making it difficult for the whale to feed.
“There is little known about this blue whale, but this one is a female—they get larger than the males. From an estimated population of 200,000 in 1900 there are only 1500-2000 blue whales left in the southern hemisphere,” he added. “It is the largest animal that has ever lived on this planet. At this size you can only live in water as no musculature would be able to support such a weight.”
DOC staff from the Golden Bay area office took photographs and measurements last week and a tissue sample from the whale will be sent to the Auckland University’s whale database. Given its size and the location, the whale will be not be removed by Te Papa whale experts or used for whale fall by NIWA but will be left to decompose gradually.
Ina Holst
