The Maritime Herald suggested the whale may have died after ingesting plastics from the ocean before being swept along by the waves into the jungle’s shore.

Renata Emin, a marine specialist, told Brazilian news site Journal O Liberal: “We’re still not sure how it landed here, but we’re guessing that the creature was floating close to the shore and the tide, which has been pretty considerable over the past few days, picked it up and threw it inland, into the mangrove.

“Along with this astonishing feat, we are baffled as to what a humpback whale is doing on the north coast of Brazil during February because this is a very unusual occurrence,” Emin added.