Beaked whale found dead on Cyprus beach

A beaked whale was found dead on a beach near the Famagusta district village of Akanthou, Tashkent nature park director Kemal Basat said.

He wrote in a post on social media that the whale was a male, and that it was around five metres long and weighed around a tonne and a half.

“It is being carefully being removed from the rocks by teams from the Tashkent nature park and transported to the centre for the necropsy. We hope that the results of the necropsy will provide a clearer understanding of the cause of death,” he said.

He also made reference to what he described as the “mass stranding of 13 beaked whales” at various locations on Cyprus’ west coast in the early part of 2023.

At the time, reports and academic studies had suggested that the species of whale which was being found dead on the island’s beaches is particularly susceptible to sonar pulses, which are frequently used during naval exercises.

Peter Tyack, a professor of marine animal biology at Scotland’s University of St Andrews, had earlier said that exposure to sonar “pushes some whales over the edge”.

“Some lose their ability to manage gases under pressure, causing gas bubbles that can injure or kill, and some strand on the beach and die,” he said.

He said that in many cases, the whales attempt to distance themselves from the source of the pulse but become disorientated and rise to the water’s surface rapidly and thus suffer decompression sickness.

It was also suggested that noise from exploratory seabed drilling could also have stressed and disoriented the whales.