A dead humpback whale washed ashore on the Vliehors military training area on Tuesday morning. The animal has a length of 7 meters.
Adult humpback whales can grow much larger, so this appears to be a juvenile. The animal’s tongue has come out, indicating that it has been dead for a long time. In 2004, a humpback whale also washed ashore on the Vliehors.
The animal is being recovered today by Rijkswaterstaat and brought to Harlingen, says Annemarie van den Berg of SOS Dolfijn. “Usually stranded whales go there, they can dissection the animals there. They will now try.” In the meantime, the military exercises on the Vliehors continue as usual.
In the period May and June a humpback whale swam off the Belgian and Dutch coast, it is not yet known whether it is the same humpback whale.
At the beginning of 2021, a sperm whale washed up on the Vliehors, that animal was 14 meters long and impossible to transport to the mainland. The sperm whale was dissected on the beach and then brought to shore in pieces.
Researchers from Utrecht University, Naturalis and Wageningen Marine Research are preparing to conduct research on the animal. “They will first look at the animal from the outside and then slowly work it in,” says Van den Berg. That investigation will focus on determining the cause of death and whether there was any disease. The stomach contents will also be examined, from which it can be distilled whether the animal has eaten in the North Sea. “That’s how they try to put the puzzle together.”
