Rare Beaked Whale Beaches Itself on Navarre Beach

Rare Beaked Whale Beaches Itself on Navarre Beach

A 13 ft. female beaked whale, a rare species which is typically found deep in the ocean and very rarely seen close to the Gulf Coast, beached itself on Navarre Beach, FL, about 60 miles east of Gulf Shores. The whale died while rescuers from Emerald Coast Willdlife Refuge tried to save it and was transferred to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, where a necropsy was performed to determine the cause of death. day by ECWR technicians. “They are a very, very offshore, deep-diving species, they’re one of the deepest diving whales,” Britany Baldrica, Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge Marine Mammal Stranding Team coordinator, told the Pensacola News Journal.
Baldrica said. If you see a whale, dolphin, manatee or any other marine mammal or animal stranded on the beach, it’s important to not touch the animal in any way or try and push it back into the water. Instead, keep your distance and call the FWC immediately at 1-888-404-3922 or use the FWC app.
“These animals strand because they’re either extremely ill or injured,’’ Baldrica said. “There’s a reason dolphins and whales don’t show illness out in the wild, that’s how predators prey on them,” Baldrica said. “So instead of showing illness, they’ll actually beach themselves, because then they don’t have to fight off predators. So when you push the animal back into the water, there’s a better chance for them to get attacked by predators, and it exhausts them even more.”