Wildlife experts have stopped the autopsy of a whale stranded on Baile Uí Chuill Strand in Ballinskelligs, Ireland, for fear it might explode.
The 18.9-metre-long fork-tailed whale washed up on the beach earlier this month. Experts from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) examined the whale and determined that it probably died a few weeks ago. Next, the group tried to determine the whale’s cause of death. However, while they were taking samples from the whale’s body, they had to stop working because of the danger that the whale could explode at any moment.
“I was able to get fat, bale and skin,” said Stephanie Levesque, IWDG Stranding Officer, in a conversation with the Irish Examiner.
As you may have heard before, whales sometimes explode due to excessive amounts of dynamite. However, human intervention is not the only reason for these gigantic beings to explode, and they can also explode due to the gas accumulated in their bodies as they decompose.
For example, the explosion of a sperm whale passing through the city of Tainan while being transported in 2004 flooded a busy street in Taiwan with an unpleasant rain. In 1970, a whale’s body completely exploded, leaving one of the most bizarre news stories of all time, as authorities in Oregon used too much dynamite to move the whale’s body.
While the cause of death of the Irish prongtail whale is unknown, the team hopes they have collected enough samples from the animal to figure it out.
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