A whale measuring nearly eight meters long has washed up on a beach near the commune of Sangatte in the Pas-de-Calais region in northern France, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Monday.Trend reports citing TASS.
According to experts, it is a beaked whale that usually lives in Arctic waters. According to Jacky Karpouzopoulos, head of the Mammalogy Coordination Center of Northern France, "we are talking about an injured female whale that got lost in unfamiliar waters." "This species lives mostly in Arctic zones. In 40 years of work, I have not yet encountered this species off our shores," he noted.
As the France Bleu radio station notes, the animal was swept out to sea as the tide came in. A boat carrying experts is now conducting surveillance over the mammal.
In recent years, French oceanologists have reported a record number of whales found on the beaches of northern and western France. According to experts, almost 2,000 whales washed ashore in France in 2020. Some of them died.