Rare albino whale found dead on Australian beach
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A resident of the Australian state of Victoria, in the south of the island, found a rare albino whale dead on Mallacoota beach.
“It looked like a beautiful kind of white marble sculpture,” Australian Peter Coles told ABC public channel, who came across the specimen on the beach after accessing it in a kayak and taking a series of photographs that he posted on social media.
The whale is about 10 meters long and could be the rare specimen of albino humpback whale baptized by Australian scientists as Mingaloo, first sighted in 1991 and regularly visiting the east coast of Australia.
Macquarie University biology Vanessa Pirotta told the Australian channel that it is early to know if it is Mingaloo since samples of the corpse have not yet been collected.
“Over time, if the animal has died, the skin can wear down and, as a result, they can turn white (…) But looking at the images, it appears to be a genuinely white whale,” says Pirotta, requesting that it be performed. a necropsy on the whale to find out the causes of death.
The expert emphasizes that this unusual finding can also help scientists to learn from these “inaccessible” animals that generally have “a relatively invisible life for humans.”
“It’s an opportunity for us to learn more, collect samples and have the world of science collectively learn from this individual to better understand humpback whales, but also learn more about our marine environment,” Pirotta said.
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