A monstrously huge creature that washed ashore on a remote Indonesian beach, oozing a mysterious red fluid, is probably a baleen whale in an advanced state of decomposition, experts said.
The Jakarta Globe calls the massive, rotting body a giant squid, and reports that a resident of Seram Island discovered the 49-foot dead creature on Tuesday.
But three marine experts told HuffPost that the animal actually appears to be some sort of baleen whale.
Additional coverage: Jakarta Globe (earlier story), Tech Times, RT (sponsored by Russian government), Jakarta Globe, Voice of America (U.S. government), USA Today, Mashable, news.com.au (News Corp), The Washington Post
(Possibly?) Related story:
Is that Dress White and Gold or Blue and Black?
Related Stories
Color scientists already have a word for it: Dressgate. Now the Washington Post reports that a puzzling thing happened on Thursday night consuming millions — perhaps tens of millions — across the planet and trending on Twitter ahead of even Jihadi John’s identification. The problem was this: Roughly three-fourths of people swore that this dress was white and gold, according to BuzzFeed polling but everyone else said it's dress was blue. Others said the dress could actually change colors. So what's going on? According to the NYT our eyes are able to assign fixed colors to objects under widely different lighting conditions. This ability is called color constancy. But the photograph doesn’t give many clues about the ambient light in the room. Is the background bright and the dress in shadow? Or is the whole room bright and all the colors are washed out? If you think the dress is in shadow, your brain may remove the blue cast and perceive the dress as being white and gold. If you think the dress is being washed out by bright light, your brain may perceive the dress as a darker blue and black.
According to Beau Lotto, the brain is doing something remarkable and that's why people are so fascinated by this dress. “It’s entertaining two realities that are mutually exclusive. It’s seeing one reality, but knowing there’s another reality. So you’re becoming an observer of yourself. You’re having tremendous insight into what it is to be human. And that’s the basis of imagination.” As usual xkcd has the final word.
(Score: 2) by julian on Thursday May 18 2017, @03:31PM (5 children)
Fascinating. Who would have guessed that the most likely and mundane hypothesis would turn out to be true?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday May 18 2017, @05:53PM (1 child)
But, why did the whale die? Was it forced to surface too quickly by Navy sonar blasts, got the bends and died? Was it infected by prototype bio-weapons? Did Aliens attempt to recontact the whales and fail with their brain-link?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 18 2017, @06:10PM
The restaurant didn't have a big enough doggie bag, after Godzilla got full.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday May 19 2017, @07:57AM (1 child)
Earlier reports that the dead giant squidlike creature was Cthulhu, washed up out of his house in R'lyeh, have been disconfirmed.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Friday May 19 2017, @09:06AM
kn'a y- 'bthnk li'hee n'gha
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @12:52PM
Hell, anyone who's seen a humpback or similar whale skeleton at a museum should have been able to guess this after seeing the photos of the head of the carcass, pretty obviously a baleen whale skull and mandible.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 18 2017, @03:59PM
I pledge no allegiance, nigga, fuck the President's speeches!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 18 2017, @04:04PM (1 child)
I was afraid Amy Schumer had had a swimming accident.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Nerdfest on Thursday May 18 2017, @04:43PM
No, it was too funny for it to be her.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 18 2017, @06:58PM
If you thought that was weird, check out this alien found floating in the middle of the sea:
http://www.providr.com/ocean-mystery-sphere [providr.com]
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday May 18 2017, @07:26PM
You know it's a slow news day when you literally throw a bloated whale carcass at the submissions :)
(I mean other than Trump, of course)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by snufu on Friday May 19 2017, @12:12AM (1 child)
In addition to bleeding a mysterious red fluid, the dead animal was mysteriously motionless. Scientists are confounded.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Friday May 19 2017, @01:47PM
One Scientist was quoted as saying, "If it bleeds, we can kill it."