Dead sperm whale
Dead sperm whales on Texel beach
On Wednesday, five sperm whales died on a Dutch beach after they were brought to the shore. On Tuesday afternoon, the whales that were between 25 and 40 feet long, were discovered on the Texel beach and the animal rescuers have been announced.

The sperm whale is also called cachalot is the largest whale with teeth and the largest predator with teeth. The mature whales can reach up to 52 feet and some can even reach 67 feet. This species of whale has a head that is one third of its length, and it mainly eats squid. Cuvier's beaked whale is the mammal that can dive the deepest, followed closely by the sperm whale. The sperm whales communicate through clicking vocalization with each other. They have the largest brain on the Planet and can live more than 60 years.


People from Ecomare and Rijkswaterstaat hurried to the beach in order to try and save the stranded whales. Ecomare is a wildlife center and a museum, while Rijkswaterstaat is a research center. The researchers believed that the high water that came around 8 p.m. would help the whales swim back into the sea, but unfortunately that didn't occur. Because of the darkness and the strong wind that blew that night, the rescue team gave up at midnight and on Wednesday morning the five sperm whales were found dead.

On Tuesday, the beach was closed and has remained closed ever since. The biggest issue is that the dead whales could endanger the health of the locals, as a gas could be formed by them. It remains unclear why the whales came so close to the shore. The island on which they were found is 60 miles north of Amsterdam and is one of the islands found on the Dutch coast.

The dead bodies of the sperm whales will be taken into custody by researchers from the University of Utrecht. They will analyze the whales and they will determine which exactly was the cause of their death. It is speculated that their skeletons will be taken by Naturalis.

As the five sperm whales died on a Dutch beach, it is important to know that this is not the first time that this happens on Dutch soil. In 2012, a humpback whale that was 40 feet long got stuck on a sandbank, close to Texel and died even though efforts were made in order to save it.