On Saturday 25 January 2020, a hiker was very surprised when he found a peculiar animal skull along the road, with meat and fat remains still on it. The scene of the event was Braine-le-Château, a small green community in the province of Brabant wallon.
Not special? Yes, as it appeared to be the skull of a dolphin, and the hiker happened to be someone with knowledge on the subject. It is the skull of a Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) or a Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba), two species whose skulls are not easily distinguishable from each other. These species only rarely end up in the North Sea, their normal Atlantic range extending only to the western part of the English Channel.
How did this skull end up along a small road close to the E19 between Nivelles and Brussels? Wild speculation … That the animal swam up the Scheldt, and then reached the site via tributaries, through locks, can be excluded. That the animal was dragged to the site after being stranded by, for example, a fox, seems equally unlikely.
All information that can contribute to solving this mystery is welcome at kmoreau@naturalsciences.be.