Experts are currently investigating a dead sperm whale that was recovered from the North Sea near Sylt and washed ashore at high tide near the Hörnum harbor. The German State Agency for Coastal Protection, National Park, and Marine Conservation reported that the carcass measured 14.3 meters in length, according to the Hamburger Morgenpost.
The heavy carcass, weighing approximately 10 to 15 tons, is being dismantled and dissected on Sylt. A specialized company is dismembering the sperm whale to transport it in containers to the animal rendering plant in Jagel near Schleswig, as reported by Bild. Heavy equipment, including a tractor and a tracked vehicle, is being used to haul the whale's carcass ashore. Employees had previously attached chains and ropes to the carcass to pull it onto dry ground, the Süddeutsche Zeitung noted.
Due to decomposition and the risk of explosion from accumulated gases inside the whale, the beach was cordoned off about 50 meters in front of it. Focus Online reported that extreme caution is required when handling the carcass because the bloated whale body can explode.
"This animal has a very thick layer of blubber, which means there are bacteria in it that breathe, that produce gases, and it may be that this whale is simply under pressure at some point and the air has to go somewhere," said Anne Schacht, a Sylt national park ranger, according to Stern. "How exactly the animal ended up in the North Sea off Sylt and what it died of remains unclear, with only speculation possible so far," said Schacht, as reported by Sat.1. "Young bulls make enormous migrations from the equator to the North Pole and back. Either the animal has become disoriented—it may also be that it heard nothing and was therefore disoriented," concluded Schacht, according to N-TV.
To secure the valuable ivory from the teeth, specialists separated the 1.95-meter-long lower jaw from the carcass of the young bull, which is to remain on Sylt for the time being. Bild reported that the jaw will stay at the Erlebniszentrum Naturgewalten on Sylt, unlike the rest of the body.
Onlookers at the Sylt beach near the harbor were met with a strong, sometimes nauseating smell when experts began dismantling the sperm whale. Despite the odor, onlookers stood and watched as the salvage operation unfolded, as reported by Bild.
A team from the Institute of Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research in Büsum plans to take samples to learn more about the condition of the whale and the possible cause of death, as well as to expand basic knowledge about deep-sea giants. Experts from the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover will examine the remains of the sperm whale.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq