It will be a sort of "rebirth" that of the young sperm whale, stranded and dead in 2019 on the Lazio coast, later buried in the Castelporziano Presidential Estate to allow its safe decomposition, and these days returned to the light. Work has begun - coinciding with World Whale Day, which is celebrated today - to excavate and clean the skeleton, which, once ready, is destined for the Pelagos House, the new interactive museum on the cetacean sanctuary inaugurated last year at the WWF Oasis in Orbetello, Tuscany. At work are technicians, biologists, veterinarians from IZS Lazio and Tuscany, WWF, and the University of Pisa Museum of Natural History. This lengthy recovery project, which will be documented at every stage, represents an extraordinarily important and unique undertaking in Italy in terms of collaboration between institutions and involving two natural areas, the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, a scientific research institute, an association and a university for a common goal: to return to the community the fascination of these often threatened giants of the sea by enhancing the aspects of research and dissemination. Indeed, the preservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean also passes through knowledge of the species that inhabit it. The beaching of this juvenile sperm whale, a female Physeter Macrocephalus specimen, 512 cm long, with an estimated age of less than 1 year, had occurred on the Ostia coastline in 2019. The poor state of preservation of the carcass had not allowed the cause of death to be determined, but pathology had been ruled out nonetheless. The dramatic episode, for a species already threatened by numerous anthropogenic activities, nonetheless contributed to increasing available knowledge and allowing valuable data to be collected. The event is turning into an opportunity: following the reporting of the stranding by the Ostia Port Authority, the inspection and anatomopathological examination performed by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Lazio e Toscana (IZSLT), and thanks to the availability of the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano, the specimen was transported to the sandy shore of the natural area to be buried on June 12 of the same year in order to allow its safe decomposition and the subsequent recovery of the skeleton, an operation that has kicked off after 5 years, just in these days.
|