Whale tooth Belgium died of hunger

Arctic toothed whale that washed ashore last week in Belgium is probably died of starvation.

It was the first time that a narwhal was spotted in Belgium. In the Netherlands, this happened once, in 1912. The marine mammal lives normally in the Arctic.

The animal
more than three meters long was in an advanced state of decomposition and was found in a lock in the Scheldt. The male had no food in his stomach, but plastic and driftwood. The animal weighed 290 kilos, more than 150 kilos too little. Further struggled with heart problems and an enlarged thyroid gland.

Three days after the discovery of the narwhal was in Hemiksem, also along the Scheldt, the body of a dolphin found. Never before has a dolphin stranded along a river in Belgium, says Natuurpunt. Also this animal is examined by the Institute.