The skeleton of the meter-long pilot whale that washed up on Vliehors (near Vlieland) is brought to Ecomare on Texel. Skeletons of whales stranded on and around Texel are displayed there and the pilot whale was not yet in the collection.
The pilot whale washed ashore on December 3. That is special: this has only happened seven times in the past thirty years. The whales, which belong to the dolphin family, do not actually occur here. They are supposed to swim around the Northern Hemisphere, in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
The animal is currently still being examined at Utrecht University. Cetacean carcasses always go there when an animal washes up on the coast here. The cause of death is being investigated there.
Very sick
In this case, the female pilot whale turned out to be seriously ill. Pathologists found, among other things, meningitis and pneumonia. In addition, the animal also had bad teeth and her hearing organs were no longer good. “All in all, no wonder she died,” can be read in Ecomare’s press release. Further research is still being done into the stomach contents of the animal, to see what is on the whale’s menu.
It will take some time before the skeleton can be admired in Ecomare. According to Ecomare, it takes several months for the bones to be clean, and then the skeleton still has to be put together like a puzzle.