Sperm Whale Beached in Bunaken, North Sulawesi

Location of Bunaken, where the sperm whale was found.

There is little information on this story, and none in English, so we're providing what is known so far.

The carcass of a sperm whale has been found beached on the shore of Bunaken, an island off the coast of North Sulawesi.¹ Although it's possible that the whale was stranded before dying on the beach, Kompas suggests that it has been dead for a week. Azalea, a local resident, reported finding it in the morning and hypothesised that it must have washed ashore the previous night, presumably already dead. The fact that it is dead now can be confirmed in the image below.

The beached sperm whale. Locals are currently trying to remove it from the shore.

Owing to the smell being produced by the decomposing whale, locals are now hoping to return it to the ocean.

Sperm whales have a wide distribution and can be found in Indonesian waters.² As a consequence, however, it's not uncommon to find them stranded in North Sulawesi's waters. In February of this year, BeritaManado.com reported the discovery of another sperm whale in Tambala village, Minahasa regency.³

Notes

1. Ronny Adolof Buol , "Bangkai Paus Seberat 1 Ton Terdampar di Bunaken," Kompas, September 3, 2014, http://regional.kompas.com/read/2014/09/03/14294681/Bangkai.Paus.Seberat.1.Ton.Terdampar.di.Bunaken.
2. IUCN Red List, http://maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=41755.
3. Redaksi BMC, "Paus Sperm Whale Berbobot 40 Ton Terdampar di Pantai Tambala," BeritaManado.com, February 14, 2014, http://beritamanado.com/paus-sperm-whale-berbobot-40-ton-terdampar-di-pantai-tambala/.