18-meter whale beaches itself and dies on shore in Indonesia
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A necropsy test will be conducted to deduce whether it was pollution or plastic that led to the death of the world's largest predator.
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Villagers look at the beached whale that was beached in Bali, Indonesia, on April 5, 2023. (AFP)
Conservation officials confirmed that an autopsy was underway as the result of an 18-meter (59-foot) whale beaching itself and dying on a beach in Bali, Indonesia.
After it washed up on the east part of the island, the whale was pushed back to sea, only to beach itself again just hours after on a different beach. There were no visible wounds on the whale, local marine and fisheries official Permana Yudiarso told AFP.
"We are still investigating the cause of death. We want to get a scientific explanation of whether it was because of pollution or plastic," he stated. Police guarded the beach in Bali and kept people away to prevent the theft of the whale's meat or body parts.
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Listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world's largest predator - the sperm whale, is "vulnerable" to extinction.
Yudiarso added, "Today we will conduct a necropsy test, and after that, we will get an excavator to try to bury the carcass nearby," continuing that whales usually beach themselves when they are ill or when they are dying.
A necropsy test is a test to examine an animal after its passing.
Pollution in the marine environment
In 2018, a sperm whale washed up on shore in Indonesia and was found with more than 100 plastic cups and 25 plastic bags in its stomach.
Indonesia is known as the world's second-biggest contributor to marine debris following China.
Just last month, a tanker that carried some 800,000 liters of industrial fuel partially sank in the waters off the Philippines coast and caused the oil onboard to spill.
The spill expanded to reach approximately 24 square kilometers away from The Philippines' coast, threatening the local marine life.
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