Thrilled to be collaborating w/ the California Academy of Sciences @calacademy.bsky.social in SFC, which has long been one of my favorite museums. They’ve recreated a rainforest, with free-flying birds and butterflies, in a giant glass dome, along w/ other amazing indoor ecosystem exhibits
The Vet Inst. is releasing a full report w/in two weeks. Still many questions to be answered, incl: How did the stick get lodged in his mouth? Was it a piece of driftwood or something human-made? Was the primary cause of death indeed starvation? And how do we explain the full extent of H's wounds?
At least some of H's wounds were likely caused by birds/other scavengers, which tend to find a dead animal's weak spots, such as small holes previously made by parasites. The Vet Inst has not yet said anything official about the external wounds. The police called them 'superficial'
Given the size, shape, and number of Hvaldimir's external wounds, some of which were markedly round, it's understandable why someone would think he was shot or otherwise killed. But it's notoriously easy to confuse one kind of injury for another, especially for non-experts.
The results suggest that the stick lodged in Hvaldimir's mouth prevented him from eating, leading to starvation and organ failure. It's not yet clear where the stick came from, how it got lodged in his mouth, or how long it was there.
Today, the Norwegian Veterinary Inst. released preliminary results from Hvaldimir's autopsy: He had a 14 inch (35cm) long / 3cm wide stick lodged in his mouth. His stomach was empty & his organs degraded. No bullets found. No evidence he was shot or killed by humans www.nrk.no/rogaland/pol...
Det ble funnet en 35 centimeter lang pinne som satt fast inne i munnen på Hvaldimir. Politiet mistenker ikke at det er skjedd noe kriminelt.
Regina Crosby Haug, the American filmmaker who founded OneWhale and has been producing a documentary about Hvaldimir, even said that she 'saw a bullet lodged in his body'—a claim that no one else made:
A few days after he was found, the advocacy group OneWhale began stating on social media that Hvaldimir had been shot to death, based primarily on photos of his wounds and alleged analysis by vets and ballistic experts they had consulted. This claim spread rapidly through the media:
On August 31, Hvaldimir was found dead, floating off the coast of southwestern Norway, where he'd been living since winter. The cause was not immediately clear, but he had several bleeding wounds, some of which were markedly round. The graphic images are easily found online if you want to see them.
All the while, he was subjected to numerous threats from people and vessels and sustained various injuries, such as gashes from boat strikes, fish hooks embedded in his skin, and oral/dental problems. When in warmer waters with fewer fish, he struggled to maintain his weight.