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A dead whale was moved from a beach where it stranded to a laboratory in Inverness on the back of an army lorry.

The 6.4m-long (21ft) minke whale was too long for the 5m (16ft) long truck and its tail dangled off the back.

The young female animal died after stranding at Ardersier on Tuesday night last week.

It had to be moved to Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme's (SMASS) lab quickly to give scientists the best chance to find out why it stranded.

Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, based at Fort George, near Ardersier, assisted in the transporting of the whale, which was securely strapped down on the back of one the battalion's trucks.

SMASS said the whale would have made for "quite a sight" as it was driven along the A96 and through Inverness to the laboratory.

Tried to refloat

Among findings scientists have made so far from their post-mortem, is that whale was suffering from an infection.

The whale died after stranding on a shore of the Inner Moray Firth near Inverness on Tuesday night.

Twenty volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue along with the coastguard and the army were among those who tried to refloat the animal after it got into difficulty.

Common minke whales are found in oceans all over the world, and adult females can grow to more than 10m (33ft) in length.