Scientists dig up two-tonne whale head buried on Cornwall beach in 10-hour mission
Huge whale head recovered from UK beach
- Scientists in Cornwall successfully excavated a two-tonne fin whale skull after a 10-hour dig, five years after the mammal was buried.
- The 60-foot female fin whale, the second largest marine animal, was found severely malnourished and stranded on a beach in Parbean Cove.
- Professor Robbie McDonald, then at the University of Exeter, arranged for the whale's head to be buried near Falmouth for natural cleaning by soil organisms.
- Samples from the whale's baleen plates were taken to study its living conditions, which could aid in the long-term monitoring of marine creature strandings.
- The skull is intended to become a monument, serving as a "visual striking, monumental reminder of marine life at risk," particularly highlighting the impact of historical whaling.