ZSL carries out post-mortem examination of the Thames whale
Monday 23 January 2006
A team from ZSL, led by Dr Paul Jepson, Veterinary Pathologist is conducting the post mortem of the female northern bottlenose whale found in the Thames.
Preliminary results of the examination are expected on Wednesday 25th January. Further results from tissue analysis will be received over the coming weeks.
Initial examinations of the whale’s body were carried out yesterday at the dockside in Denton, Gravesend and the complex process continues today in the laboratories of ZSL at Regent’s Park.
On completion, the body will be taken to the Natural History Museum who will clean the bones and preserve them for scientific research.
The data from the post mortem is being collected as part of the Defra-funded UK Marine Mammal Strandings Project which is co-ordinated by Dr Jepson and the Natural History Museum. The project is a long-term national research programme investigating the causes of mortality in UK marine mammal species along the UK coast.
Image: © Marine Environmental Monitoring
