Veterinarians release preliminary cause of death of whale

VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. (WSVN) -- Biologists appear to have solved a marine mystery, as they worked all day to find out what caused a whale to beach herself along the South Florida shore.

A five-hour necropsy Tuesday confirmed that the mother beaked whale was sick and dying when she beached herself Monday afternoon on Hollywood Beach, and her baby, which also beached itself and had to later be euthanized, may have been starving as well. "There are no animals like this in captivity, and it needs its mother to survive," explained N.O.A.A.'s Blair Mase of the decision to put the calf down.

Biologists performed the hours-long necropsy on the mother whale at N.O.A.A.'s research center Tuesday that revealed both whales' fate had been sealed long before local beach goers first caught a glimpse of them. "She had a pneumonia brewing. That's for sure. Her intestinal tract was empty, which indicates she hadn't been eating for a long time," said Veterinarian Dr. Dan Rothen.

The biologists said the mother whale had likely gone a week without eating, which means her calf was likely starving as well. "She certainly wasn't making enough milk at all, and certainly not enough to sustain a calf," said Rothen.

On the positive side, the beaching of these whales provided a rare opportunity for marine biologists to study the rare deep sea diving creatures indigenous to the Gulf Stream. "They're a little bit of a mystery to us because they are very deep divers. They are deep ocean dwellers, and they're very difficult to study in the wild, so we're here to learn as much as possible, not only to determine the cause of death but also to determine more about the species as a whole."

This test is only preliminary and an official pathology report will not be released until two weeks from now.

The calf has already been transferred to the University of Florida in Gainesville where veterinarians there hope to learn exactly how it is that these rare mammals are able to hold their breath for over an hour and dive to depths of over 2,000 feet.

(Copyright 2009 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)