A media frenzy surrounded the appearance of a female northern bottle-nosed whale swimming up London's River Thames last Friday. An endangered species, the confused whale swam upstream passing the Houses of Parliament (reports that it was searching for a mate in John Prescott are as yet unfounded) while onlookers lined the banks of the river. Unfortunately, a rescue attempt failed and the whale died on Saturday.
Obviously, lifting it onto a barge to transport it back down the river contributed to its demise. Out of the water the mass of a whale's body is no longer supported and their skeletons are not designed to do so, leading to organs being compressed and breathing difficulties. Unsurprisingly, after some time on the barge the whale died.
Officially the Natural History Museum is to deal with the carcass but it remains to be seen whether whale steak becomes the dish of the week in some of London's restaurants, or Damien Hirst puts it in formaldehyde for display in the Tate Modern Gallery. [Read story]
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