A B.C. scientist says a grey whale that washed up on southern Vancouver Island was likely not the victim of a killer whale attack. (CBC)

A young grey whale that washed up on a Vancouver Island beach last weekend likely died of starvation, not from an attack by another whale as was suspected.

Paul Cottrell, marine mammal co-ordinator with the Department of Fisheries, said injuries on the whale's body aren't consistent with a killer whale attack.

"They typically attack the tail fluke and pectoral fins to slow the animal down before they usually try to drown the animal," Cottrell said of attacks by killer whales.

He said the injuries on the grey whale's body probably came from sharp rocks as its body washed up on shore Sooke, B.C., south of Victoria.

The dead whale appears to be the same emaciated one that had been spotted in the waters off southern Vancouver Island for several weeks, Cottrell said.

Long migration

Grey whale starvation is common.

"There's a portion of the population that doesn't put enough fat on for the migration up to the feeding grounds," Cottrell said.

A few years ago, numerous grey whales washed up on beaches from California to Alaska for the same reason.

Grey whales migrate between the Bering Sea off Alaska in the summer to feed and Mexico's Baja in the winter for breeding.

The whale's carcass has become a spectacle for hundreds of people who have stopped along the beach in the regional park for a close up view.

Cottrell said it hasn't been decided what will be done with the carcass once researchers are done with it.

He said the skeleton could be used for research, the carcass could be dragged out to the ocean or it could be left on the shore of the park to rot.

Blue whale skeleton to UBC

The University of British Columbia saw the arrival Wednesday of the skeletal remains of a blue whale that washed up on Prince Edward Island two decades ago.

The giant whale beached and died near the town of Tignish, and the remains were buried not far from there until UBC made the effort to exhume and display what the university is calling a "national treasure."

Scientists had expected to find mostly stripped bones when the animal was uncovered nearly two years ago, and instead found a huge mound of rotting skin and blubber.

The blue whale, which can grow to more than 30 metres in length, is more than three times larger than the grey whale.

The massive skeleton, which is about the length of two city buses, will be showcased in a glass atrium near the university's main mall and will be the centrepiece of the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.