A post-mortem examination is being carried out on the latest sperm whale to become stranded on the east coast of England in the hope of finding out why it ended up in the North Sea.
The male died at 8pm on Thursday, nearly 13 hours after the coastguard was called to say it had become beached at Hunstanton in Norfolk at low tide.
It was found a couple of miles east of the spot where another whale washed up on 22 January - the first of six to die in the UK in the past fortnight.
Rob Deaville, from the Zoological Society of London, who is leading the examination, said the information gathered may help explain why it keeps happening.
"We know it died because it was stranded alive," he said.
"The big question is why we have had 29 sperm whales around the North Sea in four different countries and why they are in the North Sea in the first place.
"Together with our European partners we will put all our data together and try to work out what might be going on."
It is not known if there are more whales in trouble in the North Sea.
"They are deep sea feeders," said Mr Deaville.
"They cannot feed in shallow waters. They become disorientated by shallow coastline.
"If there any more in the North Sea, the outcome may not be good."
From the moment the whale was reported as stranded, its chances of survival were poor.
At 25 to 30 tonnes, the animal was too heavy to move and, without the support of the water, would have suffered organ failure.
Kevin Murphy, from British Divers Marine Life Rescue, said work is being done to try to find a way of moving such vast creatures when they become stranded.
"It's logistically impossible to get any machinery on the beach," he said. "It was dug well in. There was suction from the sand.
"People are meeting across the world trying to work out some sort of plan to save these large animals."
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