Dead whale quite a find for 7-year-old on Dunedin beach

A juvenile yet gigantic humpback whale was found washed up on a remote Dunedin beach by a 7-year-old boy.

Omimi resident Archie Dennis-Milne said he found the dead whale on a remote beach when he went to check a problem with his family's electric fence last Friday.

Along with his mother, Dr Nicola Dennis, he went down and investigated the big dead cetacean, which smelt like fish, Archie said.

It was a bit of a scramble getting down to the beach to have a look, and after identifying it they informed the Department of Conservation (Doc) about the find.

Archie said he had never seen a whale on the shore before, but the large marine mammal was only the second-weirdest find that had washed up.

His weirdest find was a golf ball, Archie said.

Dr Dennis said a dead sea lion and part of a kayak had also washed up over the years, along with lots of jandals.

The whale was found on the beach north of Dunedin on Friday. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery

DoC biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said the 9.7m humpback was likely to be a juvenile which had been dead for at least 10 days.

Fully grown humpbacks tended be between 12m and 16m long.

The whale was first reported when it was seen floating off Warrington on July 15.

However, the bloated state of the whale suggested it could have been dead longer.
A DNA sample was taken from the carcass, along with pictures and a full set of measurements.

The cause of death was unclear, Fyfe said.

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Humpback whales tended to visit the coast around Dunedin between May and July as they migrated away from the Antarctic towards warmer waters.

Along with Otago Museum natural science assistant collection manager Kane Fleury and East Otago Taiapure management committee chairman Brendan Flack, Fyfe visited the whale yesterday.

Seeing the spectacular creature up close was "pretty special", Fyfe said.

While he had been involved in coastal conservation for about three decades he could not remember seeing a washed up whale before.

Big waves and heavy weather were expected tomorrow and it was likely the whale would wash back out to sea.

But it was possible it could show up at another beach — either a long way away, or in the next bay, Fyfe said.