During the summer of 2010 a fin whale spent several weeks swimming around the inner Danish waters. Finally it ended up stranded in a fiord just outside the town of Vejle where, after a lenghty debate in the Danish media about whether to put it out of its misery or not, it ended up dying. Nothing special there; whales beach themselves all over the place; but analysis of the dead animal has now revealed that it was somewhere between 131 and 140 years old when it died - most scientists had judged it to be some 30-40 years old when it was first seen alive. So all the thoughts about a young whale getting lost was quite a bit off the mark.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
LARS THOMAS: Ye Olde Fin Whale
During the summer of 2010 a fin whale spent several weeks swimming around the inner Danish waters. Finally it ended up stranded in a fiord just outside the town of Vejle where, after a lenghty debate in the Danish media about whether to put it out of its misery or not, it ended up dying. Nothing special there; whales beach themselves all over the place; but analysis of the dead animal has now revealed that it was somewhere between 131 and 140 years old when it died - most scientists had judged it to be some 30-40 years old when it was first seen alive. So all the thoughts about a young whale getting lost was quite a bit off the mark.
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