Whale carcass found in the Amazon River shore

Question

Marine biologists found a dead whale on the amazon river shore during a strange time in the year, when the whales should have already migrated thousands of miles away. There is examinations going on to find out the cause of death and the reason why it is so far from where it should be.

Answer 1

The initial claim of this article is that a Humpback Whale was found washed ashore in the Amazon River, confusing scientists.

The whale was initially discovered by conservationists from the group Bicho D'Agua as highlighted on their social media. Scientists were confused by the location of the whale as it was found "some 400 miles from its expected feeding grounds." Renata Emin, the president of Bicho D’Água, explained that upon examining the carcass of the whale she and her team hypothesized that the whale was “floating and the tide took it into the mangrove['s],”  and when tide receded the whale died.

The initial claim of the article is true as verified by Bicho D'Agua's Facebook post, which can be referred to as a primary source, and was corroborated by trusted news sites like CNN and the NYT's. It is also true that at the time of the stories release scientists were still pursing information related to the incident, such as exact cause of death, “we are collecting information, identifying marks on the body, to determine if it was trapped in a net or hit by a boat.” This goes to support the secondary claim that scientists were still unsure of the exact reasoning behind the incident.

Comments

The original image can be found on Bicho D'Agua's Facebook and has been verified by the Federal University of Para officially performing the necropsy.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/26/world/dead-humpback-whale-brazil-trnd/index.html

Answer 2

The headline claims that a humpback whale washed ashore in the Amazon River, baffling scientists. The claim is true.

Several reports were done on the event, including by CNN ( https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/26/world/dead-humpback-whale-brazil-trnd/index.html ). The reason that the whale was found in the forest is believed to be because of the tide that commonly brings other kinds of waste into the forest on a regular basis.

The claim also says that the scientists were "baffled." The reason for this is talked about in the New York Times article from the original post. They were baffled because most of the whales had already migrated by this time of the year, and this one was found "some 4,000 miles from its expected feeding grounds."