SYDNEY - A baby humpback whale found dead on Australia's east coast died after colliding with a boat's propeller, a researcher said Monday.
The calf was found by surfers at a beach near Byron Bay, the easternmost point of mainland Australia, some 600 kilometres (372 miles) north of Sydney, late on Sunday.
"He had a pretty severe propeller injury down along the spine towards the tail fluke," said Dan Burns, a doctoral research student at South Cross University's Whale Research Centre.
"It turned out that the propeller had actually cut through the spine... so he wouldn't have been able to swim properly," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Burns said mariners needed to be aware that many baby whales would be migrating down Australia's east coast ahead of the southern hemisphere summer.
"This time of year in particular we have a lot of mums and calves coming down the coast and they tend to stay in fairly close (to shore)," he said.
