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LiveScience
LiveScience
Ethan Freedman

Mystery orcas with bulbous heads wash up dead in unexplained mass stranding

A Type D orca (Orcinus orca) filmed off the coast of southern Chile in 2019.  (Image credit: NOAA Fisheries)

A strange and rare group of orcas has stranded on a beach in Chile — the first event of its kind in 67 years and only the second ever recorded.

The orcas (Orcinus orca) belong to the "Type D" sub-group — a distinct group of orcas native to the Southern Hemisphere. Type D orcas are so different from other orcas that some scientists suggest they might actually be a completely separate species.

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