Canberra, Australia — Australian wildlife authorities are investigating the deaths of 14 younger sperm whales that had been discovered beached on an island off of the southeast coast, officers mentioned Tuesday. The whales had been found Monday afternoon on King Island, a part of the state of Tasmania within the Bass Strait between Melbourne and Tasmania's northern coast, the state Division of Pure Sources and Setting mentioned in an announcement.
A authorities Marine Conservation Program crew traveled to the island Tuesday and was conducting necropsies of the whales to attempt to decide their reason behind dying.
Pictures distributed by the division confirmed whales mendacity on their sides in shallow water on the rocky shore of the island.
Authorities had been planning to conduct an aerial survey to find out whether or not there have been some other whales within the space.
The division mentioned it isn't uncommon for sperm whales to be sighted in Tasmania and the realm the place they had been found on the seashore was inside their regular vary and habitat.
"Whereas additional inquiries are but to be carried out, it's attainable the whales had been a part of the identical bachelor pod – a gaggle of youthful male sperm whales associating collectively after leaving the maternal group," the Setting Division mentioned.
Within the meantime, surfers and swimmers had been being warned to keep away from the instant space in case the corpses of the whales appeal to sharks to the waters close by.
Two years in the past, about 470 long-finned pilot whales had been discovered beached on sandbars off of Tasmania's west coast within the largest mass-stranding on document in Australia.
After a weeklong effort, 111 of these whales had been rescued however the remainder died.