Featured Image Credit Source.
By: Sarah Sharkey
A blue whale carcass washed ashore near Limantour Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore
earlier this summer. The Marine Mammal Center confirmed that the dead whale was a blue
whale. The Marine Mammal Center will be working with the California Academy of Sciences to
determine a cause of death for the whale.
A naturalist from the San Francisco Whale Tours boat said that the carcass was first spotted
several miles southeast of the Farallon Islands. The tour group was the first to spot the rotting
whale. They got a close view of the disturbing scene. The animal’s stomach was bloated and
covered in scavenging seagulls so, it was not the best day on the water for these tourists.
The blue whale carcass was extremely large. These whales are the largest animal on the entire
planet and its death was tragic. Approximately 2,800 blue whales live off the coast of California,
but it is still considered an endangered species.
Over the summer at least four washes have washed up in the area. Many of these deaths were
caused by human related activities, including boat strikes and entanglements. Hopefully the
deaths of these whale will not continue but human related activities seem to be causing
marine mammal deaths ocean wide.
Read more from the source.