A young humpback whale was found dead on an island in the Amazon River in Brazil thousands of miles north of its feeding ground in Antarctica, perplexing scientists, who are trying to figure out how it got there.
Scientists with the conservation organization Bichon D'Agua Institute found the young whale on Marajo Island on Friday, but could not confirm a cause of death, according to G1, a Brazilian news site.
Biologist Renata Emin told the site she believed the whale became separated from its mother and was already dead when it was washed so far inland by strong tides.
But Renata said the whale’s presence off the coast at this time of year is highly unusual.
“The question is what a humpback whale is doing in the month of February on the north coast of Brazil,” Renata said. “It’s unusual.”
Scientists spent the weekend collecting samples and information at the site where the whale was found because, even though it was half the length of a full-grown humpback, it was too big to move. They’re trying to determine a cause of death.
"We are collecting all the information, identifying marks on the body, if it was caught in a net, if it was hit by a boat," she told G1.
It could take up to 10 days for the results of a necropsy on the whale.
Humpbacks are usually found near coastlines and migrate annually from summer feeding grounds near the poles to the warmer waters near the equator, according to National Geographic. Calves generally nurse for a year and continue growing until they are 10 years old, but it takes much longer for them to reach adulthood.
