Dec 3, 2023 at 4:07 PM Update: 34 minutes ago
A pilot whale washed ashore on Vlieland on Sunday. The animal has died and will be transferred to Utrecht University for research.
“This is a special find,” director Annemarie van den Berg of SOS Dolfijn told NU.nl. A pilot whale has washed ashore in the Netherlands six times before this century. The last time was in 2018, when one stranded in Egmond aan Zee.
The pilot whale is a type of whale from the dolphin family. It is not often that the animal is spotted near the Netherlands.
“We call this a visitor to the North Sea. Pilot whales live in Europe in the sea between Scotland and Iceland,” says Van den Berg.
The pilot whale is the largest dolphin species after the orca. The animal can grow between 3 and 8 meters long. It is not yet known how large the stranded pilot whale on Vlieland is, or what gender the animal is.
Image: Folkert Janssens
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2023-12-03 15:07:10
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