14 lifeless sperm whales discovered beached on Australian island | World News

Australian wildlife authorities are investigating the deaths of 14 younger sperm whales that had been discovered beached on an island off of the southeastern coast, officers stated Tuesday.

The whales had been found Monday afternoon on King Island, a part of the state of Tasmania within the Bass Strait between Melbourne and Tasmania's northern coast, the state Division of Pure Sources and Atmosphere stated in a press release.

A authorities Marine Conservation Program staff traveled to the island Tuesday and was conducting necropsies of the whales to attempt to decide their explanation for dying.

Images distributed by the division confirmed whales mendacity on their sides in shallow water on the rocky shore of the island.

Authorities had been planning to conduct an aerial survey to find out whether or not there have been every other whales within the space.

The division stated it's not uncommon for sperm whales to be sighted in Tasmania and the world the place they had been found on the seashore was inside their regular vary and habitat.

“Whereas additional inquiries are but to be carried out, it's doable the whales had been a part of the identical bachelor pod -– a gaggle of youthful male sperm whales associating collectively after leaving the maternal group,” the Atmosphere Division stated.

Within the meantime, surfers and swimmers had been being warned to keep away from the fast space in case the corpses of the whales appeal to sharks to the waters close by.

Two years in the past, about 470 long-finned pilot whales had been discovered beached on sandbars off of Tasmania's west coast within the largest mass-stranding on file in Australia.

After a weeklong effort, 111 of these whales had been rescued however the remainder died.