Pygmy whale washed up on Mackay beach, Australia

By Kim Honan

Friday, 09/09/2011

A pygmy sperm whale that washed up on a beach near Mackay Harbour is now the most northern record of the mammal in Australia.

                                                A pygmy sperm whale washed up on a Mackay beach. (Kim Honan)

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service officers have collected data and teeth samples from the three-metre long adult whale and sent them to the Queensland Museum for analysis.

The museum’s senior curator of mammals and birds, Dr Steve Van Dyck, says the whale specimen is significant.

“We’ve been accumulating records for 150 years, and of the 15 specimens that we’ve got of the pygmy sperm whale in the museum, they’ve all come from the coast between Brisbane and Rockhampton,” he said.

“That species is now known further up to the Mackay area and that increases the known biodiversity for people in the tropical half of the state.

“Probably all that specimen will do for us is give us a new insight into the distribution of the animal in Queensland, which is terribly important.

Dr Van Dyck says they may never know why the whale died at sea and washed ashore.

“Overall, the animals usually die as by-catch in fishing gear or they eat plastic bags, which seems to be their biggest threat because they’re a squid eater.”

He says there is no shortage of the pygmy whales and the mammals are found world-wide.

“They’re not a rare species, they’re rarely seen, but there are plenty of specimens representing the species all over the world and they’re found in tropical and sub-tropical temperate waters.”

The Queensland Museum has limited collection funds but may recover the skeleton at a later date.

“We allocate to $2,000 a year to collect whatever we can of whales up and down the coast for the whole of Queensland and some cases we’ve got to say we can’t afford to do this one,” he said.

“Having 15 specimens in the museum, all we can hope to get from this one is the record, which will probably be a couple of teeth, that goes into the database then and represents the animal as a permanent record.

“We’d love to get the entire specimen, the entire skeleton, which we could do if we’re passing that way.

“We know where the animal is buried, but at that this stage we can only put a small representation, a few teeth and maybe some tissue into our tissue bank here.”

abc.net.au

Fair Use: Educational