LARGE WHALE STRANDED

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26012, 16 January 1950, Page 6

LARGE WHALE STRANDED

FREED LATER BY TIDE

ZOOLOGIST CLIMBS ON JAW

(New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, January 15. A whale measuring 66 feet was stranded at Warrington, near Dunedin, yesterday afternoon and zoologists of the Otago Museum had a good opportunity of inspecting it. At high water the whale managed to iree itself. The whale attracted a large crowd, who stood at a respectful distance and admired the activities of a member of the museum staff, who pursued his scientific investigations from a vantage point on top of the whale’s jaw. After freeing itself the whale appeared to be stranded on a sand-bar in the middle of the channel about a quarter of a mile off the beach. Train travellers had an excellent view of the whale from the cliffs-near Waitati. “It was a most exciting experience to stand beside the whale while it was blowing and .making a noise like escaping steam,” said Mr L. M. Gurr, of the museum staff. He examined the whale under the direction of Professor B. J. Marples. “Occasionally the whale opened its mouth and lifted its tail from the water,” said Mr Gurr. “The whale’s eye wandered round to watch the crowd of spectators.” The whale is a member of the rorqual family and is commonly known as a trimmer . whale or razorback. Some idea cf its size can be gauged from the fact that it measured 14 feet G inches from its eye to the tip of its nose and IS feet from flipper to flipper across its back. Mr Gurr thought that it was probably about three years old and slightly more than half grown. It was battleship grey in colour on top and pure white underneath.