What happened
On December 27, 1924, the London “Daily Mail” published an article, “Fish Like a Polar Bear,” about an extraordinary event at Margate on the Natal coast. According to the report, witnesses on shore watched two orcas fight a large animal for three hours; it struck them with its tail and rose high out of the water. Farmer Hugh Ballance compared it to a “gigantic polar bear,” since it appeared to be covered in thick white fur. The dead animal was later washed up on the beach, where it lay for ten days untouched by scientists. Beachgoers measured it: it was about 14 meters long, with “hair” 20 cm long and, instead of a head, a 1.5-meter “trunk.” The name Trunko was given to it in 1996 by British cryptozoologist Karl Shuker.
Witnesses
Residents and beachgoers in Margate, among them farmer Hugh Ballance.
Explanations and hypotheses
For decades it was believed that the carcass had never been photographed, but in 2010 photographs published in the 1920s were found. Paleontologist Darren Naish judged that they show the decomposing remains of a large vertebrate, most likely a whale. The “fur” consists of collagen fibers from disintegrating blubber and connective tissue, typical of so-called globsters. The description of the fight with orcas may refer to predators attacking a dead or dying whale.
Explained The phenomenon has a widely accepted, down-to-earth explanation.
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