On Friday, two stranded beaked whales were found at Åsa in Halland. The Coast Guard helped the whales out into deeper water, but on Sunday, one of the whales was found dead in Frillesås near Kungsbacka. The other was also found dead, on Läsö in Denmark.
Now, a team of marine biologists and veterinarians from the Natural History Museum and the National Veterinary Institute have examined the whale from Frillesås.
"Our initial examination shows that the beaked whale was in good condition, with a good body and no pathological changes. The injuries that can be seen are superficial and come from injuries in connection with the stranding, or after death," says Moa Naalisvaara Engman, marine biologist at SVA, in a press release.
So far, it is still unclear why the two beaked whales stranded. The team has taken samples from the whale and sent its head for a CT scan. They will be looking for, among other things, the presence of environmental toxins and viruses.
The beaked whales that stranded over the weekend are of the species Sowerby's beaked whale, which normally lives in deep water in the Atlantic.
The number of strandings has increased slightly over the past ten years. Despite this, it is still an unusual phenomenon – in a hundred years, only eight whales have been received by SVA and the museum previously.
"At present, there are only various speculations about what is disrupting the beaked whales' navigation system or driving them to shallow water," says Anna Roos, curator at the Natural History Museum, in the press release.
Sowerby's beaked whale can grow up to 5 meters long and weigh more than a ton. The ones found in Halland were 3.5 and 2.75 meters long, respectively.
