The carcass of a 33-foot-long sperm whale washed ashore at the Rushikulya rookery in Odisha's Ganjam district, a forest official said on Thursday.
The Forest official said they spotted the carcass on Wednesday near Podampeta off the Ganjam coast after getting information from local residents.
He said the carcass was in a decomposed condition.
"We have no knowledge how the giant whale died. The whale might have died two days ago and then washed ashore," said Divisional Forest Officer (Berhampur) A.K. Behera.