The remains of a rare Bryde’s whale washed up in the Everglades National Forest, park officials said on Thursday.
Officials from the Marine Mammal Stranding Network recovered the 38-foot, 30-ton whale carcass Wednesday. It was loaded onto the flatbed of a semitruck and hauled to Flamingo, where researchers will conduct a necropsy to determine the cause of death.
"(It) may be weeks/months before we know more, but we'll share what we learn," park officials wrote on social media.
Park officials also indicated the Smithsonian Museum is interested in the skeletal remains of the great whale.
The Bryde's whale (pronounced broodus) is the only year-round baleen whale found in the Gulf of Mexico, park officials said.
The whale is named for Johan Brydes who built the first whaling stations in South Africa in the early 20th century, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
Researchers believe there are fewer than 100 Bryde's whales in the Gulf of Mexico.
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