New Beaked Whale Mass Stranding in Canary Islands Associated with Naval Military Exercises (Majestic Eagle 2004)

Abstract

Four beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) stranded in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (Canary Islands). The first animal stranded the 21st and the last the 28th of July. During the previous week (11th–16th July 2004) an international military naval exercises (Majestic Eagle 2004) took place between the Canary Islands and Morocco. The corpses were autolytic, lacking part of the body in some cases. A necropsy was carried out on 3 out of 4 animals. The last beaked whale that stranded the 28th was not possible to sample. The necropsied animals showed abundant content of aliment in the stomach with, in same cases, large non-digested squids. No macroscopic findings were recorded due to advanced autolysis, but samples from different organs, except the central nervous system, were taken for histology. Samples were processed for routine histological study and also for detecting fat emboli. This report presents epidemiological data and pathological data from this new beaked whale mass stranding associated with naval exercises.