Is it a bluish whale or not? The slaughter inwards Republic of Iceland of what is claimed was a fellow member of the endangered species has triggered scandalise too left experts puzzled nearly its truthful identity.
 |
| This handout photograph shows what Sea Shepherd claims is a Blue whale awaiting slaughter at the Hvalur hf whaling station inwards Republic of Iceland [Credit: AFP/Robert Read] |
The group, which published photos of the mammal beingness butchered for export at an Icelandic whaling station on the nighttime of July 7, said the fishermen "posed for photos adjacent to too fifty-fifty on top of the whale inwards a sign they knew really good this was a rare bluish whale".
But Icelandic experts are non completely for sure whether it is indeed the world's largest leviathan, which the International Whaling Commission has been protecting since 1966.
They're likewise non for sure if it could hold upwards the endangered fin whale, the minute largest beast on the planet, which tin simply hold upwards legally hunted inwards Republic of Iceland despite an international moratorium on whaling.
Kristjan Loftsson, CEO of Hvalur hf, the whaling station which slaughtered the animal, said they did thus believing it was a fin whale.
Most of the fin whales killed are exported equally meat to Japan.
"We encounter bluish whales all the fourth dimension too position them yesteryear their blowholes...but nosotros exit them alone," he told AFP.
DNA tests
For Gisli Vikingsson, a scientist at the Marine too Freshwater Research Institute inwards Reyjkavik, the butchered whale's characteristics are similar to both the bluish too fin whale.
 |
| Some experts state the slaughtered mammal is a fin whale [Credit: AFP/Don Emmert] |
He added the whale could fifty-fifty hold upwards a hybrid species resulting from cross-breeding betwixt the fin too bluish whale, which is a rare phenomenon.
Since 1987, 5 such animals bring been observed inwards Icelandic waters too they are known to hold upwards infertile.
All killed whales inwards Republic of Iceland undergo deoxyribonucleic acid tests subsequently the hunting flavour too the results are released during the fall.
However, due to the contention surrounding this item case, a examination volition hold upwards done before than planned too the results are expected at the terminate of July.
But Sea Shepherd said the line-fishing crew which butchered the beast mixed its parts amongst previously caught fin whales, making "it hard or impossible to locate during potential inspections yesteryear the authorities".
"This shows how inaccurate too imperfect this hunting is too at that spot is no ask to proceed it," Sigursteinn Masson, Republic of Iceland example for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told AFP.
Should the killed whale hold upwards confirmed equally a hybrid, thus things could exceed away fifty-fifty to a greater extent than complicated equally at that spot are no laws to protect them.
"Hybrids are much to a greater extent than rarer than the bluish whales," Masson said.
Author: Jeremie Richard | Source: AFP [July 15, 2018]
Sumber http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com
Buat lebih berguna, kongsi:
