Three juvenile Sowerby’s beaked whales were recently discovered on a beach near Findhorn, Scotland. Spotted by a walker, initial examinations at the site found no net entanglement but it’s thought the animals came ashore live and died on the beach. Further tests will be being carried out by the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme over the coming weeks to help determine the cause of death.
Sowerby’s beaked whales, sometimes known as the “North Atlantic beaked whale,” are little-known members of the beaked whale family, Ziphiidae. Globally distributed they are unique among toothed whales in that most species only have one pair of teeth and due to the rarity of sightings at sea, there is little information on the abundance of Sowerby’s beaked whales worldwide. They are however usually found individually or in small, closely associated groups.
We will update further when information becomes available on what caused the three young whales to strand.
