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Norwegian fisherman Dag Rydland could hardly believe his eyes: when he left the island of Andöya, he suddenly saw a round object. Curved and glistening black in the sun, it looked very much like a balloon, as “Bild” writes.
Rydland wheeled his boat closer – and was amazed when he realized what it was. A dead humpback whale floated in the open sea, its belly stretched towards the sky. “It stuck out about three meters from the sea. That’s how big the balloon was! I have been a fisherman for 27 years and have seen a few dead whales. But I have never experienced this magnitude before,” the fisherman told the Norwegian newspaper “Dagbladet”.
Not entirely safe
The problem with inflated whales is that they run the risk of exploding. As a result of the decomposition process, putrefactive gases accumulate in the body of the carcass. If the amount of gas becomes too great, the whale carcasses can burst. So the fisherman kept a safe distance. But despite a safety distance of about a kilometer, the inflated humpback whale was clearly visible.
Rydland estimated that the dead humpback whale was about 50 feet long and 40 tons in weight. ‘I hope it doesn’t wash up on the shore before then. If it explodes, the smelly parts will fly many meters,” Rydland told the Norwegian newspaper. This happened to marine biologist Bjarni Mikkelsen in 2013, who wanted to examine a dead whale on the beach of the Faroe Islands. After the whale was stabbed in the stomach, massive amounts of viscera and blood narrowly missed it, as the Daily Mail reported at the time.
Human bodies are also affected
But it’s not just the bodies of dead whales that can explode. The human body can also be affected by this phenomenon. After death, the heart first stops beating and the blood seeps down. The color of the skin then changes and the body temperature slowly drops. At the same time, the intestines empty because the sphincter is no longer controlled by the brain.
At this stage, gas is produced in our body. With no way out, the corpse will swell and explode. The degradation process then begins and the cells break down themselves with the help of the body’s own enzymes. (mgf)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
