The carcass of an endangered blue whale, the world’s largest animal, washed up on a Namibian beach in April this year with lesions suggesting it collided with a ship.
A whale-watcher first spotted the mammal “floating upside down” off Namibia’s port town of Walvis Bay.
The body drifted to shore, revealing a broken pectoral fin.
The balance of evidence at the moment strongly suggests it was struck by a ship very close to the bay, the freshness of the animal’s skin suggested the incident took place near to land.
Samples would soon provide more insight into the cause of death.
Blue whales have been slowly repopulating southern Africa’s oceans after being almost wiped out by decades of whaling.
Sightings remain rare, however, as numbers are still low and they do not usually venture near the coastline.
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