Buenos Aires, Sep 17 (EFE) Forty-two pilot whales beached themselves and died in a small bay in the southern Argentine province of Chubut, a marine expert has said.
“We counted 42 dead pilot whales in an area that’s not much more than a small bay,” Centro Nacional Patagonico researcher Enrique Crespo said.
The finding “dispelled our fears that the discovery of bodies could extend much farther south, something that luckily did not occur”, Crespo told Argentine media.
The whales were found in Bustamante Bay, south of Chubut’s capital, Rawson, Crespo said, adding that blood and tissue samples taken from the animals would be analysed to try to determine what killed them.
“Two females were pregnant and in two other cases the hearing apparatus had parasites, but this does not mean that was the cause of disorientation that ended with the beaching,” the marine expert said.
