WILDGuides has just received news of the live stranding of two Melon-headed Whales close to La Rochelle on the Biscay coast of France. The information has been kindly passed to us from one of ORCA's partners, Olivier Van Canneyt, of the Centre de Recherche sur les Mammifères Marins based in La Rochelle.

The stranding occurred on the 27th August, when two Melon-headed Whales beached alive. Both animals were helped back to sea with the assistance of local firemen, but two days later one of them was found dead on a nearby beach. The dead specimen, an adult male, measured 2.43m and weighed 123kg (the other measured approximately the same length). A necropsy showed the animals to be in a medium physical condition with no severe pathological lesions observed. Only some parasitic cysts were observed in the genital area. The complete skeleton has been preserved.

This amazing record comes from an exceptionally high latitude for this species, and represents a first for the coast of France and the first live sighting in European waters. The only other record for Europe involves a skull, which was found in September 1949 near Charlestown, Cornwall, England. The specimen was originally misidentified as a White-beaked Dolphin.

This is the first species of cetacean to occur in the European Atlantic, which is not included in the current WILDGuides field guide to whales and dolphins by Graeme Cresswell and Dylan Walker. It sounds like a good excuse to write a new edition!