PACIFICA, Calif. (KRON) — A dead humpback whale washed up on Sharp Park Beach in Pacifica on this weekend, according to the California Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Senior Collections Manager Moe Flannery runs the marine mammal stranding response team for CAS and shared more details. The whale is a young female humpback, and a team from CAS collected data, photos, measurements, and samples from the carcass on Saturday and Sunday. According to CAS, the whale’s body showed signs of “interacting” with orcas and those interactions were likely the cause of death.
During this time of year humpback whales feed in the Bay Area and sometimes these feedings can result in strandings. A stranding is “when an animal is onshore where they should not be,” according to CAS. We rarely experience live stranded whales in our area, but sometimes dead stranded whales do was up on shore.
CAS responded with The Marine Mammal Center to the following strandings this year alone: seven gray whales, two humpback whales, and one Hubb’s beaked whale. CAS has found that the causes of death can range from ship strike to orca predation, meaning the orcas attack whales. Sometimes the cause of death is also unknown. If you would like to learn more about how CAS responds to mammal strandings visit their website.
