A dead whale on the shore is a sad sight that makes you try to understand the cause of death of such a massive and beautiful animal. And if this is not one whale, but two, five, tens?
Why are the whales being washed ashore?
The massive ejection of whales to the coast is one of the tragic and intriguing mysteries of nature, over which many scientists are puzzling to this day. The sad sight of the dead bodies of huge animals in an unusual environment for them causes a feeling of bewilderment and pity. What makes the main inhabitants of the oceanic expanses to end their lives on the sandy shore and die under the scorching sun? Why did the whales jump ashore?
For example, in February 2015, about 200 dolphins jumped onto the coast of New Zealand. According to scientists, such a mass phenomenon has not been observed for more than 10 years. Despite the maximum efforts of the rescuers, only a hundred individuals managed to survive.
The rest died under the weight of their own weight and due to lack of water. Although most often group emissions are observed in whales, most of them among deep-sea species.
Sound pollution of the ocean
The vast expanse of water is filled with many sounds, most of which are of natural origin. Increasingly, the measured life of the ocean is disturbed by human noise (from submarine engines, mining, military trials and fishing). As a result of this, under the influence of sonars, dolphins and whales lose their hearing by almost 40%.
What does hearing loss (a delicate instrument capable of distinguishing the slightest fluctuations in water) mean for an animal whose life depends on its ability to hear? Underwater sound traps disorient animals in the water, knocking them off the usual path, so whales and dolphins, lost in space, swim in shallow water.
Too fast ascent to the surface contributes to the occurrence of a caisson disease inherent in divers, in which, due to a sharp decrease in pressure, nitrogen bubbles accumulate in the blood and damage internal organs and blood vessels. This assumption is confirmed by scientists who found signs of such a disease when opening dead animals. According to scientists' assumptions, nitrogen bubbles contained in the blood of whales can be directly affected by loud sounds from the engines of submarines and explosions. Under the influence of sound waves, bubbles, rapidly growing and contracting, can clog blood vessels, damage tissues, and injure the nervous system.
The reason for the mass death of whales - military exercises?
Strong explosions, in addition to clogging blood vessels, can cause rupture of animal organs. This phenomenon (ruptures of the lungs and bleeding of internal organs) was observed by scientists during the survey of whales and dolphins that were ashore during or after the military exercises. For example, in 1989, during a naval exercise near the Canary Islands, 24 whales jumped ashore. Why did the whales jump ashore? Most likely, the cause was an unbearable underwater noise, literally stunning the aquatic inhabitants. The harm to the submarine caused to marine inhabitants is most thoroughly studied by the Americans, since it is in this country that the military complex is subjected to the most intense pressure from the public.
The ejection of whales ashore also took place before the manifestation of man-made evolution of mankind and the appearance of submarines. What in those days could determine this feature of the inhabitants of the oceans? In 1950, 64 whales jumped onto the shore of Stronsay Island, after 5 years 66 dolphins died there. What makes animals choose this mode of death? Why did the whales jump ashore?
Failure of magnetic fields?
According to Margaret Klinowski’s theory, whales migrate annually to warm waters to mate and give birth to calves, after which marine animals return. Routes in many respects depend on magnetic fields, which are a kind of landmarks. In places of the greatest fluctuation of these fields, whales can lose their orientation and swim in shallow water. It has been observed that whale mass suicides predominantly occur immediately after solar flares that distort magnetic lines.
According to one version, whales are washed ashore due to changes in climatic conditions. Ocean currents bring cold water from the Antarctic, forcing whales to swim in shallow water in order to warm themselves. In Australia, an ejection of more than 80 whales was recorded, literally streaking with their bodies a five-kilometer coastal zone. Only 25 individuals were saved.
Why did the whales jump ashore? What caused the mass suicide? Maybe a loss of orientation, which weather conditions are capable of disrupting? In stormy weather with a gusty strong wind, a stormy tide or the so-called surge of water can occur. An animal, swimming too close to land, may remain there, not being oriented in a timely manner when the water drops.
Self-regulation of abundance is another assumption of the mass release of whales to the shore. The version has a place for existence, although the number of whales in nature is not so large as to be reduced.
The reason for the death of whales - pollution of the oceans?
Pollution of the oceans, which is gradually turning into a landfill of catastrophic size, can be considered as the reason for the mass ejection of whales to the coast. A special collection of garbage, one fifth of which is industrial emissions and oil waste, falls on the shores of the Hawaiian Islands. The size of this trash spot, located in the Pacific Ocean, is commensurate with the continental United States. Naturally, such a huge landfill, the mass of which exceeds 100 million tons, negatively affects the cetaceans. Although these animals are not fish and, in contrast, they breathe air and not dissolved oxygen in a polluted aquatic environment, harm from such landfills can be caused by injuries and spills.
