New Zealand sea monster: A New Zealand expert said that the “sea monster” that washed up on the Bay of Plenty was that of an orca.
Some locals were left scratching their heads after discovering the carcass, suspecting that it might have been a prehistoric fossil.
New Zealand’s 3 News reported that photos of the carcass were sent to the Department of Conservation, but agency officials were unsure of what it was.
In a video published on YouTube, uploader Elizabeth Ann says that “it seems about nine meters in length but the lower part of the body is probably mainly entrails from an attack,“ according to the Stuff.co.nz website. The video has generated hundreds of thousands of views after it went viral following coverage by British tabloids, which called it a ”sea monster.”
But after he received the photos, marine mammal expert Anton van Helden told the channel that the carcass was an orca.
“It’s hard to say how it died,” he said, adding that orcas have a distinctive flipper.
“That’s boring isn’t it? It’s not the prehistoric animal I thought!” Luana Lovell-Dewes, a woman who found the remains of the animal, told the station.
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