Pregnant dwarf sperm whale strands on beach in South Nags Head

A dead dwarf sperm whale is seen on the beach in South Nags Head the morning of Sunday, March 1, 2026. (Photo courtesy Deborah Boyle Orsato)

By Corinne Saunders

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SOUTH NAGS HEAD — A pregnant adult female dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima) stranding took place on the beach in South Nags Head on Sunday, OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network officials confirmed on Monday.

The whale measured 227 centimeters—nearly 7.5 feet—and a Monday morning necropsy revealed that it was nearly full-term pregnant with an almost 100-centimeter fetus, Marina Doshkov, Jennette’s Pier marine mammal stranding coordinator, told Outer Banks Insider on Monday afternoon.

While more detailed testing results were not yet available, several findings were evident from the “gross necropsy,” Doshkov said.

“The heart should signs of cardiomyopathy, which is a very common cause of death for this species—and then the stomach was loaded, completely loaded, with live nematodes, which is a parasite that they can get from eating, you know, squid and crustaceans,” she said.

“There was evidence of her being live-stranded, and so…maybe she live-stranded and just kind of succumbed to everything on the beach,” she continued, noting that the fetus also did not survive.

The dwarf sperm whale is the second most common marine mammal species stranding on North Carolina beaches, after the bottlenose dolphin, according to Doshkov.

Two dwarf sperm whales washed up along Outer Banks beaches in January 2025.

So far this year, this marked the first local stranding of the species, following one bottlenose dolphin stranding and one striped dolphin—which stranded in Carova on Feb. 19, she said.

“It’s been a quiet season,” she said.

The dwarf sperm whale is a toothed whale species found in temperate and tropical seas worldwide, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Like all marine mammals, the species is protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The “deep-diving species” typically dives in water 100-500 meters deep around the continental shelf out around the Gulf Stream, and sightings closer to land usually signify the animal is “trying to die,” Doshkov said.

“They’re very cryptic,” she added. “We don’t know a lot about them. They have this really cool false gill slit on the side of their head that makes them look like a shark, so they often get reported as a shark.”

The dwarf sperm whale is named after “the waxy substance, spermaceti, found in its head. This organ is a sac of oil that helps the whales produce sound,” according to the NOAA website. “Similar to squids, dwarf sperm whales can produce a dark, ink-like liquid that helps them escape from predators.”

Video has been captured off the coast of South Africa of the species spraying ink to hide from its main predators, orcas, Doshkov said.

“If they get scared, they ink in the water, and then they hide in it,” she said.

A dead dwarf sperm whale is seen on the beach in South Nags Head the morning of Sunday, March 1, 2026. (Photo courtesy Deborah Boyle Orsato)

On Sunday, a National Park Service ranger moved the animal northward on the beach, from near the Juncos Street Beach Access to near the James Street Beach Access, to allow for easier access by stranding volunteers, she said.

Mike Barber, spokesperson for the National Park Service Outer Banks Group, confirmed that the stranding occurred outside the Cape Hatteras National Seashore boundaries, so a ranger was “just assisting with our role within this this marine mammal response network.”

“It’s not uncommon for us to partner together when we respond to strandings,” Doshkov noted. “From Ramp 1 coming up, it was a little bit easier to access the animal because there’s a lot of construction there at the East Juncos access, and so we weren’t able to get on the beach there.”

The necropsy took place locally in a shared facility on Bodie Island she described as “a little shed” with a walk-in freezer and walk-in cooler.

A family from New Jersey staying in their second home over the weekend saw the dwarf sperm whale being dropped off around the James Street access on Sunday by truck, and shared on social media photos taken of the creature around 10:40 a.m. They granted permission to Outer Banks Insider to republish the photos.

Jennette’s Pier and the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island are partners in the OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network, along with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Anyone spotting a dead or alive marine mammal—such as seals, whales, dolphins or manatees—should call the OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 252-455-9654 to report it. For sightings within Cape Hatteras National Seashore, call 252-216-6892.

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