This February, mother nature is keeping us occupied with a puzzling new riddle, and the solution has even got the scientists stumped: how exactly did a humpback whale end up dead on the edge of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil? It's a curiosity that has drawn worldwide attention. The 8-metre-long carcass (26 feet) was found near the mouth of the Amazon river last Friday under a circle of vultures. Afterwards, several videos of the unfortunate animal were posted online. (bicho_dagua/Instagram) The footage piqued the interest of a wildlife nonprofit, called the Bicho D'água Institute, which sent ten biologists to the scene to figure out what was going on. Like a fish out of water, the biologists found the mammal's massive carcass resting on the forest floor of Marajo island, roughly 15 metres (50 feet) from the ocean shore and close to the Amazon river mouth. With no wounds seen anywhere on its body, there were few clues to explain how this creature ended up so far from the water, not to mention its natural summer habitat. "We're still not sure how it landed here, but we're guessing that the creature was floating close to the shore and the tide, which has been pretty considerable over the past few days, picked it up and threw it inland, into the mangrove," Renata Emin, a marine specialist told the Brazilian news site O Liberal, according to Newsweek. "Along with this astonishing feat, we are baffled as to what a humpback whale is doing on the north coast of Brazil during February because this is a very unusual occurrence." (bicho_dagua/Instagram) Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) normally frequent the Amazon Basin in wintertime, when salt water crawls up the freshwater rivers, and that's precisely what makes this discovery so baffling. Not only was the whale found remarkably far from shore, it was also found in the exact opposite season you'd expect to see humpbacks in this region. During the Amazonian summer, when freshwater rivers flood, local humpback whales should have already travelled over six thousand kilometres south (4,000 miles), to their feeding grounds in Antarctica's krill-filled summer oceans. So why is this one here? And how did it end up landlocked? (bicho_dagua/Instagram) There is one clue that may help explain things. Judging by the size of the carcass, the biologists think the whale is probably a calf, no more than a year old and half the size of an adult. This could potentially explain why this infant is so far away from its summer habitat. The biologists suspect that the juvenile whale somehow lost its mother during migration, and that's why it was left behind in the Amazon Basin. All by itself with little life experience, scientists think the baby whale was probably dumped by high waves onto the shore, ultimately becoming entangled in the mangroves, unable to escape. Another theory is that the calf died from ingesting plastic waste and its dead body was washed ashore by stormy seas. There's only one way to tell for sure. An autopsy is being carried out on the whale right now, and its cause of death will be determined in the coming ten days.<doc-sep>Biologists are trying to solve the mystery of how the carcass of a humpback whale ended up in the Amazon jungle. The mammal was found in the Marajo island of Brazil, about 50 feet from the ocean shore. A team of biologists from the Bicho D'água Institute posted pictures of the whale, reported to be a 12-month-old calf, onto social media. In a statement posted on Facebook along with the photos, the Bicho D'água Institute explained that the whale was "not an adult animal [and] not as big as it looks in the images." The Maritime Herald suggested that the whale may have died after ingesting plastics from the ocean before being swept along by the waves into the jungle's shore. Renata Emin, a marine specialist, told Brazilian news site O Liberal: "We're still not sure how it landed here, but we're guessing that the creature was floating close to the shore and the tide, which has been pretty considerable over the past few days, picked it up and threw it inland, into the mangrove. "Along with this astonishing feat, we are baffled as to what a humpback whale is doing on the north coast of Brazil during February because this is a very unusual occurrence." The Municipal Secretariat of Health, Sanitation and Environment (SEMMA) is investigating why the mammal was so far away from its natural habit at this time of the year. "We believe this is a calf which may have been traveling with its mother and probably got lost or separated during the migratory cycle between the two continents," Emin said. Dirlene Silva, a spokesperson from SEMMA, told Brazilian media that they found the whale after it caught the attention of scavenger birds. "The vultures were spotted circling above the carcass, which was found hidden in the bush some distance from the sea," Silva said, according to The Mirror. An autopsy to determine the whale's cause of death is expected to take 10 days. This is not the first time a whale has been found in the Amazon rainforest, as ABC News reported. In 2007, a minke whale measuring more than 18 feet was found stranded on a sandbar off the Amazon River near the city of Santarem, about 1,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The whale eventually managed to free itself and swim to safety.<doc-sep>Aside from plenty of heavy rainfall, there isn't enough water in the Amazon rainforest to keep a humpback whale alive, so how did one end up in the jungles of South America? That's the million-dollar question baffling marine experts right now after the dead carcass of a 26-foot-long young humpback was discovered on Marajo, an island in northern Brazil on Friday, The Independent reports. Those knowledgeable enough on the subject have theorized that a massive storm or wave may have been what deposited the creature's body so far inland. Moreover, it had already been deceased several days before being found; the only indication of its existence was the large groups of scavenger birds congregating around it for easy food. “We’re still not sure how it landed here, but we’re guessing that the creature was floating close to the shore and the tide, which has been pretty considerable over the past few days, picked it up and threw it inland, into the mangrove," Renata Emin, leader of the conservation-minded Bicho D’agua Institute, told The Independent. “Along with this astonishing feat, we are baffled as to what a humpback whale is doing on the north coast of Brazil during February because this is a very unusual occurrence.” While humpbacks are known to spend time off the coast of Brazil, they are not often seen in the country's northern parts at this time of year and neither are they usually this close to the Amazon River. Emin postulated that the calf could have been separated from its mother while migrating toward the southern coast. The whale's remains were moved to a more remote part of the swamp in which it was found, but tests are still being carried out with results expected over the next 10 days. The skeleton will be put on display at a natural history museum in the city of Belém. The Bicho D’agua Institute did not immediately respond to SYFY WIRE's request for comment<doc-sep>
Scientists are baffled after the carcass of a humpback whale was discovered in the Amazon rainforest, nearly 50 feet from shore. The young mammal, believed to be about a year old, was found over the weekend near the mouth of the Amazon River on the Brazilian island of Marajo, according to local conservation agency Bicho D'água. The group is currently trying to figure out how the creature came to rest so far from its natural habitat, as well as the cause of its death. "We're still not sure how it landed here, but we’re guessing that the creature was floating close to the shore and the tide, which has been pretty considerable over the past few days, picked it up and threw it inland, into the mangrove," Renata Emin, the institute’s project leader, told the Independent. "Along with this astonishing feat, we are baffled as to what a humpback whale is doing on the north coast of Brazil during February because this is a very unusual occurrence." Photos of the whale: Biologists took samples from the whale's body to study and left the rest of the carcass to decompose in the remote site where it was found. "It's very difficult to get there and there’s no way we can send a bulldozer because it would not get through," Emin told the Independent. "There is no way to remove it. To get there, we need to cross the swamp." The whale's skeleton will later be collected and sent to a natural history museum in the Brazillian city of Belem for further studying.