Huge whale found dead on Chinese beach may have choked on fishing net
A 41-tonne sperm whale that washed up dead on the eastern cost of China was found to have a black net more than eight metres long inside its stomach.
A huge sperm whale washed up dead on the eastern cost of China last month may have died after it swallowed a fishing net, according to a newspaper report.
Two adult sperm whales were found dead on a beach in Nantong in Jiangsu province in February.
One whale, weighing 41 tonnes, was sent to a museum in Dalian in Liaoning province to be preserved, the Huaxin Metropolis Daily said.
Museum workers found a black net more than eight metres long and two metres wide inside the animal, the article said.
No food was found in the whale’s stomach during dissection, suggesting it was hungry when it died, according to the report.
Experts have yet to formally agree on what killed the whale.
Su said it could take five years to complete their work on what may be the largest preserved whale in the world, the article said.
