The corpse of a blue whale, the largest animal in the world and a species considered endangered, washed up on a Namibian beach on Tuesday, bearing wounds suggesting it was struck by a ship, scientists said .
Read also: Right whales decimated by collisions
A whale watcher first spotted the mammal "
floating on its back
"
on
Monday
, off the Namibian port town of Walvis Bay, marine biologist Simon Elwen told AFP. “
The body drifted to shore Tuesday morning,
” he said. The body of evidence at the moment strongly suggests "
that the animal was struck by a ship, very close to the bay,
" continued Simon Elwen. Samples should be able to find out more quickly about the causes of death, according to him.
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) can reach 30 meters in length and weigh around 150 tons, making it the largest living animal on the planet.
The species, classified as "
threatened
" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is slowly recolonizing the waters of southern Africa, having been virtually wiped out by decades of whaling.
Observing a blue whale remains rare, however, their number remaining low and the species rarely venturing near the coast.
There are currently only between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales around the world according to WWF.
