Expert carries out post mortem on River Thames whale

A marine mammal expert conducted a post mortem examination Sunday on the whale that strayed into the River Thames, hoping to discover what caused the animal to become lost.

The Zoological Society of London said it hoped preliminary results would be available on Wednesday and said it was too early to determine what caused the northern bottlenose to die. Paul Jepson, who has conducted government-funded research into why dolphins and whales become stranded on British shores, was carrying out the examination, the society said.

The whale captivated onlookers as it swam in the shallow waters of the River Thames past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. It died on Saturday night after rescuers tried to carry it into deeper waters, swaddled in blankets on a rusting salvage barge, AP reported. V.A.