VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center's Stranding Response Team performed animal autopsies on the two deceased juvenile humpback whales found in Virginia Beach last week.
The organization said they have done the necropsies on the whales. In-field assessments have been completed and the whales were buried.
Tissue samples for life history and diagnostics were collected and the team will analyze the samples, photos, and data to try and determine the cause of their deaths which is still currently unknown.
The Aquarium & Marine Science Center said the first whale, which was found on March 3 on the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, measured 32 feet in length and weighed 32,000 pounds. The second one was found the next day at False Cape State Park. Officials said it was 27 feet long and weighed around 21,800 pounds.
The Aquarium's team said they learned some important details about the life of the whales. They determined that they were both juveniles and both had some abnormal skin lesions that they are continuing to investigate. They also had healed scars from previous entanglements which the organization calls "sub-lethal" and a "chronic part of these animals' lives."
The center went on to say that "the entanglement scars are an important reminder that we share the ocean, and our activities can impact the ocean environment and its inhabitants."