Picture of the day: Not your typical tailback in Edinburgh

The end of a sad tale - an articulated lorry transports a dead sperm whale through a roundabout in suburban Scotland.

This sad picture shows the final journey of a juvenile sperm whale that washed ashore at Portobello beach in Edinburgh, Scotland.

(Picture courtesy of the Scottish Marine Animals Strandings Scheme)

"We certainly got a few funny looks as we were going through the roundabout," said Nick Davison of the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme, which transported the dead cetecean.

The 13.8m whale was found dead on the beach on Saturday, with marine experts speculating that it may have been hit by a boat offshore.

"It is a male sperm whale which is not adult that has washed up," Corinne Gordon, a marine mammal medic with British Divers Marine Life Rescue, told the BBC.

"It has possibly been hit by a boat or propellers and that has caused severe damage. It has been dead for some time."

(Picture:PA)

"There are only a few options for an animal this size," Mr Davison said.

"One is to leave it where it is and let nature take its course. Not an option here as its too close to a major city but, an option in remote areas."

(Picture:PA)

"Burying on site is another but, again not possible in this case as we were not able to get plant machinery down to do this and would likely be uncovered by tidal action," Mr Davison added.

"The only other option was to remove it to landfill."

(Performing a necropsy at landfill. Picture: SMASS)

" Not the nicest place to perform a necropsy but it does allow us to get an accurate weight on an animal that would be too big to weigh anywhere else."

(H/T: Simon Ricketts)