Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I didn't know that...(a long continuing series)

The mystery of the 100-tonne whale | Environment | The Guardian

From the above article talking about a stranded whale in England:
The carcasses can communicate zoonotic, or inter-species disease (as can live whales, a warning for anyone within spouting distance of a cetacean), or worse. The buildup of gases in an ­animal's stomach can cause a whale to expand to bursting point – in 1617, a sperm whale beached at Scheveningen in the Netherlands exploded, fatally infecting bystanders.

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