CALAPAN CITY, ORIENTAL MINDORO, Philippines — A necropsy conducted on a stranded false killer whale found dead along the coast of Barangay Balite here revealed a fracture in its middle ear bone, a condition that may have impaired its ability to navigate and eventually led to its repeated strandings, authorities said Wednesday.
The examination was carried out on June 10 by personnel from the Provincial Veterinary Office (ProVet), in coordination with the Calapan City government, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and experts from the University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Veterinary Medicine (UPLB-CVM).
The male false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens), measuring about 4.5 meters long and weighing an estimated 700 kilograms, was first sighted along the coastlines of Calapan and neighboring Naujan on May 27.
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It reportedly moved between several locations before repeatedly returning to shallow waters and eventually dying in Barangay Balite.FEATURED STORIES
