The majority of the 14 sperm whales found dead in the rocks of south-west King Island in the Bass Strait were most likely alive when they became stranded, an expert has said.
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Dr Kris Carlyon is a wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, and said the investigation into the stranding event was ongoing.
However, he said that a working theory was simply death by misadventure.
"At this stage our leading theory is that misadventure in a complex bit of coastline," Dr Carlyon said.
"This is a very tricky part of the coast. There is a lot of the rock in the water, with shallow ground, and quite tidal."
He said that it may be that one or two of the whales had simply swum to an area they could not then leave, and the rest of the group has followed.
He said the pod of 14 whales was spread out along a stretch of coastline about half-a-kilometre long.
Dr Carlyon said it was typical of young, male sperm whales to move in a "bachelor pod", and that it was not uncommon for mass stranding events in such pods.
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However, the marine biologists and marine mammal veterinarian onsite on King Island would be conducting post mortems in the coming days to rule out any other potential causes of death.
Dr Carlyon said that externally each of the whales presented as otherwise healthy, but a post mortem would rule out disease, malnutrition and other potential causes.
Because of the challenging nature of the coastline and the enormity of the animals - each weighing between 15 and 20 tonne - the post mortems would be conducted in situ and the whales would then be left to decompose and be predated upon.
Dr Carlyon said members of the public should also remain clear of the stranded whales for their own safety, and said surfers and divers should avoid the water as sharks were likely to be attracted to the area.
He also said it is a criminal offence to interfere with a whale corpse.
Whale sightings should be reported to NRE Tasmania's whales hotline on 0427 WHALES.