The remains of a giant sea creature with a bird-like "beak" and fur on its tail have been washed up on a remote Russian beach.
Scientists have yet to identify the strange prehistoric-like "mutant", which has similarities to a dolphin but is twice as large as a human being.
Found on the shoreline of Sakhalin Island, which is closer to the United States than it is to Moscow.
The extraordinary pictures show a bloodied carcass ripped apart with its bones showing.
They also show what appears to be thick long hair hanging off the creature's remains, a characteristic that has puzzled marine biologists.
Nikolay Kim, deputy head of the Forecasting Department at the Sakhalin Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, said he believed it to be a species of “big dolphin".
"According to a characteristic of the skin, it is a rare species," he said.
"I doubt that it lived in our waters. Most likely, the animal was brought by a warm current.
"We often get tropical and subtropical species here and when they cool down they stay here and then die.
"I can confidently say that this is some kind of a dolphin.
"However, it has fur. It's unusual. Dolphins do not have any fur."
Pictures of the carcass have caused a sensation on Russian social media, with many local people speculating about what the animal is.
One said: "It looks like some mutant sea monster with a beak."
Some claim it resembles a Ganges River dolphin, which are normally found in the fresh water regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
One online comment beside a photograph jokes: "Probably, our summer is so cold that even the Indian Dolphins getting into local waters, are covered with fur."
source: http://www.express.co.uk/
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