GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Last Friday S.M.A.R.T. (Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team) received a call from SANParks about a whale stranding at Swartvlei, near Sedgefield. The message was relayed to the Plett Stranding Network and the successful collaboration and coordination regarding the stranding was praised by scientists and all other organisations involved.

Volunteers of S.M.A.R.T. drove through to assist with crowd control on both Saturday and Sunday and kept the public informed of the scientific procedures as they took place. Mossel Bay's Oceans Research staff assisted with the necropsy.

Facts about sperm whales
When dealing with sperm whales, everything seems to be extra large. An adult male averages 16 metres in length but may reach 20.5 metres.

They have the largest brain on earth and it weighs about five times more than a human's, at around 7.8kg.

The lower jaw is narrow and has 18 to 26 cone-shaped teeth on each side which can weigh up to 1kg each. A heart of a 22 metric ton sperm whale taken by whalers in 1959, weighed 116kg. Blubber thickness can measure 17cm in certain areas. They really are the giants of the ocean.

S.M.A.R.T. volunteers who braved the icy cold and wet weather to assist in crowd control on Sunday were Desiré Peens, Val Marsh, Karen and Monique Bullock and Sharyn Gilfoy.

Cause of death
The cause of death is not yet certain and histology and other tests will be done. The stomach contents showed about seven litres of squid beaks and five litres of fishing rope. (Volumetric estimate was used as it wasn't possible to weigh the samples on the beach.)

It really is amazing that this 16 metre animal had the agility to approach and catch squid. A growth in the stomach lining will be tested to find out if it was an ulcer or a tumour.

The whale was already dead when it washed up and with regards to the condition of the skin and decomposition, it had been dead for a few days.

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