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Wangerooge (dpa / lni) - They are several meters long, oversized and an eye-catcher in national park houses and exhibitions on the North Sea coast: the skeletons of stranded sperm whales are a magnet for many visitors.
"Many find these animals incredibly exciting," says Britta Schmidt from the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration.
"When they stand next to a skeleton, many can imagine how big these animals are."
A sperm whale skeleton can be seen on the outdoor area of the National Park House Wangerooge.
The skeleton comes from one of the 30 young sperm whales that stranded on the coasts of Germany, England, France and the Netherlands five years ago from January - two of them on Wangeroog Beach.
This recent stranding of sperm whales, which is the largest to date, moved many people not only on the coast.
Researchers have different theories as to why stranding occurs again and again.
In order to better understand nature and animals, the skeletons are of great importance, says Schmidt.
"You can get very close to a skeleton like this and deal with the way animals live."
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Sperm whale skeletons can be seen in the Wadden Sea Visitor Center in Wilhelmshaven, in the national park houses on Wangerooge and Spiekeroog as well as in the local history museum on Borkum and in the Waloseum in Norddeich.
In Schleswig-Holstein, animal skeletons can be found in Kiel, Lübeck, Tönning and Amrum.
The exhibitions are currently closed due to the corona pandemic.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210125-99-156130 / 2
Wadden Sea National Park on the history of sperm whale strandings
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WWF profile on the sperm whale
Study of whale strandings in January 2016
Wangerooge National Park House