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Mystery Of Giant Skeleton That Suddenly Appeared And Disappeared Again On Beach

A mystery giant skeleton has surfaced on a beach and disappeared again as quickly as it appeared.

The four-metre- (13-ft-) long skeleton was photographed on Barra do Una Beach in the Brazilian municipality of Peruibe on 21st May.

Marine biologist Thiago Augusto do Nascimento was one of those puzzled by the huge skeleton speculated that it might belong to a Bryde’s whale that washed up dead in the area 12 years ago.

A giant skeleton of an unidentified animal was found ona a beach in the south coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in May, 2021. (@soulperuibe/Newsflash)

Bad weather prevented researchers from reaching the site, which lies in a protected environmental reserve, on the day the skeleton was found.

However, the team called off its investigation the following day after receiving reports the skeleton had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Only one bone was spotted at the scene the following day, and researchers are unsure as to how the remainder went missing.

A giant skeleton of an unidentified animal was found ona a beach in the south coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in May, 2021. (Newsflash)

One hypothesis is that the bones were removed from the site by local residents.

Another, which is considered more the more likely scenario, is that the bones were buried again in the sand by the tidal action.

According to Nascimento, the Bryde’s whale that washed up dead in the area in 2009 was 14 metres (46 ft) long.

Bones of an unidentified animal was found ona a beach in the south coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in May, 2021. (Newsflash)

He told news site G1: “When this skeleton appeared, I remembered that beaching. I do not remember another such happening in that region.”

However, the skeleton’s true history can only be ascertained with DNA testing, leaving the identity of the creature officially a mystery.

There are believed to be some 90,000 to 100,000 Bryde’s whales worldwide, with around two-thirds inhabiting the Northern Hemisphere.

Bones of an unidentified animal was found ona a beach in the south coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in May, 2021. (Newsflash)

It is a least-concern species complex, though the animals are threatened by ship strikes and anthropogenic noise.

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