Overview

• The carcass of a ten-meter-long male humpback whale was discovered on May 10 at Sankt Peter-Ording, marking the third whale stranding on the North Sea coast this year.
• Specialist teams lifted the decomposed whale into a container and transported it to a disposal facility in Jagel for necropsy by the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover.
• Earlier strandings this year include an undernourished juvenile humpback near Minsener Oog in February and a 14.3-meter sperm whale at Hörnum, Sylt, the same month.
• Experts attribute the rise in whale strandings and sightings in the North and Baltic Seas to growing populations and navigational challenges in shallow waters.
• Hypotheses for whale disorientation include disrupted magnetic fields, ship traffic, and the limited suitability of echolocation in shallow regions like the North Sea.