The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) reports that a killer whale was found stranded in Tullaghan Bay, Co Mayo earlier this month.

A post morten was carried out on the carcass of the female killer whale by Conor Ryan and Alessandro Pierini of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. The good condition of the carcass also allowed the team an opportunity to examine its stomach contents, which did not include any foreign objects.

The killer whale, which was stranded on the beach at Doohoma, was found to be pregnant with a large near-term female calf which was oritented backwards in the birth sac, though there is no obvious connection to the cause of death.

According to the IWDG, it is only the 15th stranding of a killer whale in Ireland since records began, and the seventh in the last 40 years. A pectoral fin was removed for display at the Natural History Museum.