We'll look at the DNA and see if we can actually fit it in with the other animals we have had here

Richard Sabin, Natural History Museum

The last pygmy whale found in the UK was washed up in west Wales five years ago.

Lindy Hingley, of Brixham Seawatch, said: "They are normally found in more temperate waters off South Africa, so it's extremely rare to get one up here.

"Perhaps it's evidence of the increase of global warming."

Richard Sabin, of the Natural History Museum, said: "We'll take some samples from her ovaries to discover how reproductively viable the animal was.

"We'll look at the DNA and see if we can actually fit it in with the other animals we have had here and also to compare with animals in other parts of the world."

Record toll

The number of marine animals found beached around the UK's coastline in 2001 was the highest since 1913.

Nearly half have been washed ashore on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall alone, with modern fishing methods blamed for many of the deaths.

Mrs Hingley said the number of dolphins found around Devon this winter could reach 100 but claimed the figure was only a fraction of those being illegally killed by trawlers "pair fishing" in the English Channel.

The mammals drown in giant nets strung between two ships.

Global warming may be the cause of an increase in exotic species in British waters.

In November, a warm-water barracuda was caught in English waters for the first time, off Cornwall.