Debate has raged over the bizarre find. Photo / TikTok/@bootscootinaf
Debate has raged over the bizarre find. Photo / TikTok/@bootscootinaf
Online sleuths believe that they have identified a huge and bizarre animal part that washed up on a Queensland beach after a video of the object went viral.
A Queensland woman shared videos of the “disgusting” discovery she made on Magnetic Island to TikTok, which saw thousands of comments demanding answers on what the object was.
Many who saw the video thought it was a human leg due to its size and shape. Photo / TikTok/@bootscootinaf
“What the f*** is that,” the woman asked in a video of the strange part, before comparing it to the size of her leg.
Hundreds of people began to share their opinion on what the object was, with some insisting that it was a human leg or arm.
In a twist after the videos went viral, the woman who initially sparked the strange investigation shared that experts had informed her that the object was likely part of a whale’s penis.
“With the help of TikTok and marine biologists, I think we have figured out what that weird animal thing is,” she said in a follow-up video.
The woman who made the discovery posted a follow up video arguing that it was a whale's penis. Photo / TikTok/@bootscootinaf
“It’s a whale d*** and apparently the males fight and they bite each other’s things off and then they just wash up on beaches all around the world.”
Other experts have said that it’s likely that the object could be a whale’s appendage, but there’s no way to know for sure “without seeing it in the flesh” according to Dr Vanessa Pirotta.
“Where this unidentified object was found is currently where there are a lot of humpback whales, they’re there to breed and have their young,” she said.
Though it is possible that the discovery could be the penis of a young male humpback male, it’s unlikely that it was removed by its own kind.
“The reason being, well, I’ve not actually heard of this theory before but these whales don’t have any teeth at all,” Pirotta said.
“Rather, they have long hairlike strands called baleen, and to bite another male whale’s penis off is something I’ve never heard of.
“Could something else have bitten this off, such as a killer whale?”
