Enormous Blue Whale Washes Ashore In Southern Chile

Environmental groups called for an investigation to determine whether the creature was the victim of a collision.

An enormous blue whale, considered the largest animal on Earth, has washed up onto a beach in southern Chile, probably after dying at sea, local authorities said Sunday.

Residents of the city of Ancud, on Chiloe island, first spotted the giant marine mammal Saturday on a Pacific ocean beach some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of the capital Santiago.

Agents of the Chilean national fishing agency Sernapesca, sent to investigate, confirmed the carcass was that of "a large cetacean of the family of Balaenopteridae," they posted on the X platform formerly known as Twitter.