WHALE OF A PROBLEM: A whale stranded on a beach in Sweden in 2006.
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On Sunday morning, scientists and volunteers struggled to get some of the 55 false killer whales that washed up on a beach near Cape Town, South Africa, back into the frigid water.
But as soon as the rescuers sent the 15-foot (4.5-meter) dolphin relatives on their way, they nosed back for shore as if on a suicide mission. By Sunday afternoon, the scientists decided to euthanize the mammals with gunshots to their heads. Some volunteer rescuers protested the decision, and one woman was marched off the beach.
"I feel quite sad, but it's the right thing to do," said Nan Rice, head of the Dolphin Action & Protection Group in the area.
Mass strandings of dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals date back to the time of Aristotle, but some environmental activists have suggested that human impacts of pollution, shipping noise and, in some cases, military sonar have led to a rise in such frequency and severity of such events. And so scientists have been trying to untangle what factors cause these normally adept swimmers and maritime navigators end up in shallow water where they can become beached and die.
To find out more about mass strandings we spoke with Darlene Ketten, a neuroethologist and expert on hearing in marine mammals at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Cape Cod, Mass.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
What causes whales to beach themselves?
I often use the analogy of a car crash, because a lot of things can go wrong but you get the same result. Statistically, we are only able to determine the cause of a stranding in about 50 percent of all cases worldwide. In some cases it is obvious, like a ship strike leaving an animal in poor condition. In the northeastern United States pneumonia is a common cause of stranding. We see other diseases and trauma, such as shark attack on whales or dolphins or attacks by members of the same species. Poisonous "red tides" will also affect marine mammals. Some strandings have been speculated to be related to anomalies in the magnetic field.
Military sonar has been implicated in the mass stranding of beaked whales. Although there have been environmental groups publishing press releases about all whales being affected by sonar—that's never been demonstrated.
How do you define a mass stranding?
The definition varies from country to country but it is typically two animals or more unrelated animals (not, say, a mother and a calf) stranding in the same location. The largest stranding of false killer whales on record is 835 animals, but sometimes you see mass strandings involving just a few animals.* There are some species like pilot whales that are notorious for mass strandings. We have records going back to Puritan settlements in New England reporting mass strandings in the same places we see them today. Back then, it was a BBQ instead of a disaster.
Are strandings something we should be worried about?
These are species that are unusual, that are beautiful, and important for the ecology of our seas. If there is an activity humans are doing precipitating these strandings we need to know about it—we need to make decisions about pollutants, shipping noise and sonar. Are we in some way contributing to declining health of critical populations, like the northern right whale?
I have to provide the caveat that strandings we know going back to Aristotle, meaning they may be a natural phenomenon. That raises an interesting question: If you have an animal and it is stranded and you insist on returning it to the sea, are you harming the population? If they are sick or diseased, what are we doing to that population pool? I'm not advocating that we don't rehabilitate animals, if we can. We should understand causes of stranding, but we also have to accept the fact that strandings may be in many cases natural phenomenon.
Are mass strandings on the rise?
That's a really good question. We certainly have more reports over time, and that's something a number of people are looking into. In Cape Cod there's been a slight increase in the last two years. But looking around the world, stranding reports seem to follow human populations. As beach areas become more popular—meaning more people going to beach and more people interested in whales and dolphins—you get more reports. You have to normalize data for increased interest and traffic, and it's not clear whether there are more strandings or just more reports.
Why did they have to shoot the whales in Africa?
They were shooting them to euthanize them. You can try to get them back in the water, but imagine struggling to get the animal back in water in winter conditions, like at the Cape. They are very large animals but they are quite delicate. For instance, if you get sand down their blowhole it's like squirting water up your nose. If you do get the animal to water and try to get it to swim off, and if it returns two or three times, the decision will have to be made that it is not going to survive and a veterinarian must euthanize it. Depending on how big the animal is, you cannot always use drugs in which case shooting is the best option.
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26 Comments
Add CommentI wonder if anyone has considered this could be an evolutionary event? think about it if we truely did come from fish they didnt just one day say hay let take to land. It would have been a process or so I would think.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI actually was thinking that too but then started wondering whats the point when they all die... the gene doesn't get passed on. Then the second thing is can genes change once a person is born? I've wondered that but I think it's no, it's something random when an animal is conceived and once in a while it doesn't mess the person or animal up and gives them an advantage.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat amazes me about these beaching incidents is that they continue to make the news. If someone ever actually figures out the reason, I'd be glad to read about it. Until then, for me it's the same as any other animal dying in the wild. It's a natural occurrence and not worthy of coverage. It's like a squirrel or a possum dying, only bigger.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI do appreciate that this article at least pointed out evidence that it has been happening as long as humans have been around to witness it. I'm pretty sure the Puritans didn't have sonar and didn't cause significant pollution in New England.
I am reminded of the cults of Jones,Heven's Gate,and other's.Is it possible that some of these species have reached a level of sentient as to be following a religion,and in turn comitting mass suicide?We still know very little about how these animals communicate.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you were an air breathing mammal living in water, requiring you to surface to breathe, and you were seriously ill and weakened, couldn't it be a natural response to seek shallow water and even the shore? Any instinctive response to avoid the fatal effects of beaching would not be genetically reinforced in the population, because if you stayed in the water, you would still soon die and not reproduce any more than your fellows who did beach themselves.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo in 50% of the cases, researchers can prove that the animals were already dying. It's not much of a stretch to assume that far more animals than that were having significant health problems. If you were a dying whale, would you prefer to die of drowing, being eaten alive by sharks, or slowly pass away on a beach?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOr maybe there's some sort of social/biological imperative that drives them to quarantine themselves on the beach before they end up being the rotting, disease spewing corpse that kills off the rest of the herd. Sort of like digging your own grave and lying in it until you die.
re: Relhak's comments. Thank you for those ideas. That is a very interesting possibility and certainly useful to consider for one or two animals. For larger numbers like these mass strandings it may not hold but still worth considering.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne correction to note: 835 is the largest recorded false killer whale stranding.
Whales recieve direction from the magnitisum of the earth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen there is a disturbance in the magnitisum whales loose
direction and beach them selves. Humans have no, direction like this. Usally if we are lost we walk to the right in a circle.
There is a hole in the earths magnetic field over the ocean which is getting bigger.
I have to ask the question as a discussion at work following the Cape beaching wondered about this. Could Mercury poisioning have contributed to the beaching? The reason for the question is quite simple. These whales came from False Bay which is where the water outlet is from the major Cape Town landfill site. And it is an accepted norm that most residential CFL bulbs end up in this landfill. And over the past 3-4 years over 4million of these bulbs have been distributed freely in the Cape Town area in an attempt to easy energy issues. That excludes those CFL's bought by the public. And CLs contain Mercury which is extremely toxic.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnybody knows if this is possible?
I remember reading that infestations of parasitic worms in the brain were discovered in several whale strandings.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi recall during naval submarine missions, whales use to bump the submarine and we would tilt. we could also hear the whales too. i had reason to believe that the whale may have considered our submarine as another whale, perhaps of the opposite sex.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswe would never out run the whale, though we had nuclear powered propulsion because our propeller might rip the whale to shreds.
so instead it was protocol to dive deep, out dive the whale until we lost it.
Maybe if the whale in charge of navigation gets sick and beaches itself all the other whales follow that one whale. Then when people try to free random whales they say 'no we stay with the navigator' and beach themselves again.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is an interesting take on the concept. I never thought of it that way. I came across this site recently which I think will be of great use www.whales.org.za . Check it out! Big thanks for keeping me entertained.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDr. Ketten is not correct in stating that only beaked whales are involved in strandings due to military sonar, and that only a few locations are affected. While there is a preponderance of beaked whales stranding due to military sonar, other whale species (such as minke whales, melon-headed whales, etc.) also strand in these same events. Moreover, while some strandings occur repeatedly in the same locations, others do not. People are more likely to see the connection if past strandings from sonar events occur in the same locations, but there are many examples of strandings connected to sonars in new locations. Naturally, proximity to naval training areas is one reason strandings may occur in the same place repeatedly.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think whales beach themselves b/c they used to be land creatures. They think they are able to come ashore for a while again and then go back into the ocean.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd I also agree w/the comment that if you were a dying whale, would you rather drown or die on shore? On shore for sure.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDear people who are concerned of these whales beaching themselves in the past; while I am posting this January 13/ 2011;so you will have a recent update. What has caused their deaths, should put grave concerns in your mind whether you are American and Canadian etc. there is a weapon of mass destruction; it is located in Southern Alaska. It is an American military secretive weapon. Secretive and the fact that they will not tell you its agenda. It can control mass weather patterns/it can control brain waves. Likening that to a microwave oven. In conjunction with Wales/Dolphins, you now had millions of birds dropping from the sky. This is not local, it is international; now if that is not bad enough. Ask another question, what are happening to millions of fish crabs, lobster. Well if you will look at the autopsy reports for these birds, it states no poisons found in birds.www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=87213 this is just one of autopsy report. Also check out this website!http: WWW.fromthewilderness.com/free/Pandora/haarp.html I guarantee you you will had interesting reading. And by the way the government of the United States the military do not answer to the president. Research upon research has brought up the very denials of presidents who have requested specific pieces of information concerning/alien entities/and a lot of other questions United States military does not want you to know. I a similar post on another network, and received an e-mail reply from an ex-military type person. He stated to me he had 25 years; of which his trade was audio technology (technician) he said he knows what HAARP is. He express to me sarcastically I might admit it was a doomsday weapon and could end our existence as we know it. Check out your severe weather patterns. Throughout the world right now? Australia/Brazil/Hatia etc. this weapon was also used in the Iraq war. When the Republican guards ran out and literally gave up their posts, and abandoned their tanks!! this piece of machinery was used they there. It caused mass anxiety and allusions to the brain. Just a little toy of the military says. It was designed for something else domestic use, then the military bought it. Now look where we are. People should storm their politicians offices, not only in the USA but in Canada and also go to the U. N.. This system is totally operational now, and you think that they have not tried it out at certain frequencies on animals first, ask any live rats if they could talk. Or request an interview with one of the Republican guards
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is January the 14th 2011/I posted a nice article the other day very factual/very true. Totally wasted my time and effort about these beached whales; they never even chose to print it.it was about a secret weapon; heavens knows if this will be printed???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJohn C. Rennie
I've come to this thread late, just having seen another program about jellyfish stings. It leaves me wondering, could jellyfish encounters be part of the problem of whale beachings? Few organisms are immune to the jelly toxins. Cetaceans have very sensitive skin within their mouths and throats. Jellies swarm.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt stands to reason, and ingested jelly, like a box jelly, would be painful enough to cause a whale to react in a frantic manner; even to beach themselves. A pod which encountered a swarm of jellies, might react together and beach themselves.
And wrote a good article;I took quality time and wrote an informed article. What does this website have censorship? my article wasn't presented??and the article was in relation to hard-core evidence! concerning weapons of mass destruction HAARP
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisnobody replies because you sound like a tinfoil hat wearing whackjob, and your skills in English are laughable at best.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, Alexis Serrano, we TRUELY did NOT come from fish.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis article does not reveal why whales mass strand. There is just more of the same confusion from the scientists.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo find how why whales mass strand, read the SEAQUAKE THEORY at http://deafwhale.com
Mankind has NO BUSINESS interfering..Who the HELL do u think you are?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI say yes, We do what we can to save them, but NO FREAKING WAY do we shoot them in the head. This is sickening. We act like we know it all. These whales have been doing this for many many years and we don't know why, but it's not up to us to make that descision for them. They are intelligent mamals and we should respect them. This is terrible.
If there is a common cause, it must be something that has been happening for thousands of years. Occam's razor is a principle in the law of probabilities urging one to select from among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions. Bayesian reasoning also guides that a simple theory is preferred to a complicated one because of a higher prior probability.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBased on the long history of mass stranding and on certifiable facts and consistent observations, the simplest idea imaginable that fits the evidence is that an underwater earthquake has knocked out their internal compasses, causing the pod to accidentally swim blindly on to a beach.
Said with more details... potent oscillations in ambient water pressure above the epicenter of an undersea earthquake (aka: seaquakes) can induce barotraumatic injury in the air sinuses/air sacs (barosinusitis) and/or in the middle-ear air cavities (barotitis) of an entire family of pelagic toothed whales and dolphins all at the same time.
Because intact air sinuses and middle-ear air chambers are mandatory for the production of echo-navigational clicks and for the proper channeling of any returning echoes, the resulting barosinusitis/barotitis disables their acoustic navigation system resulting in the loss of echo-navigation and leading to a mass beaching from one to six weeks later.
The barotrauma also renders the pod unable to dive and feed themselves by disrupting their ability to neutralize/balance the volume of air contained in the now traumatized air spaces of their heads, and by interfering with their ability to determine the direction of high frequency clicks used to zero-in on the squid and fish they eat.
The pod-dangerous seaquakes are generated by shallow (<10km) crustal earthquakes in the rift valley of the 65,000km-long mid-oceanic ridge system, an extremely earthquake-prone volcanic mountain range that circles the globe like the seam on a baseball. The squid, the favorite food of the pelagic odontoceti, seek out the warmth of the volcanic bottom along the rift valley to help incubate their eggs and to breed.
Like wilder beast grazing on grass, the whales simply follow their favorite prey into a seismic danger zone.
Since water is 700 times more dense and 55 times more viscous than air, the increased resistance (drag) to swimming in any direction except with the flow of the surface currents will quickly turn the streamlined bodies of the non-navigating pods and point them downstream.
Eventually they swim blindly onto a beach.
http://www.deafwhale.com
There's no way these intelligent animals would do this by accident. It really is suicide. Maybe they thought it would be less painful than whatever else they were suffering from.
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