People have been finding marine animals that washed ashore for no reason at least since the first century AD - ancient Roman and ancient Greek documents testify to this.
And this phenomenon is not uncommon these days. 2002 - 55 whales washed up on the shores of Cape Cod. Thanks to the efforts of American rescuers, 46 animals were saved. 2004 - in the area of the Canaries archipelago, 15 whales threw themselves onto the shores of two islands. Only three of them were saved.
June 2005 - About 160 whales washed up on the coast of Australia. Rescuers with the help of volunteers did not allow the five-meter "fish" to die.
October 2005 - 70 whales died on the beaches of Tasmania (Australia).
March 2007 - 12 whales washed up on the shore of one of the Galapagos Islands. Despite the best efforts of rescuers, seven animals died.
2012 - On Cape Cod alone, 177 common dolphins ran aground and 124 died.
Scientists are still looking for answers that will unlock this mystery.
There are many theories about why these smart animals end up in shallow water and then wash ashore. If one animal is thrown ashore, there may be several explanations for this.
Dolphins, whales, porpoises and seals wash ashore alone when they become disoriented or suffer from some kind of disease, infection or injury.
Young animals, just starting an independent life, can make this fatal mistake simply because of inexperience. Old animals may end up on the shore, dying of natural causes.
Unfortunately, human activity does not go unnoticed for marine mammals, sometimes leading to the death of an animal or being washed ashore.
Scientists suggest that cetaceans are washed ashore en masse for the following reasons:
Unfortunately, the self-destruction of whales and dolphins is still a mystery. However, scientists continue to conduct research and, perhaps, they will soon find the answer to this painful question for many.
The suicide of whales in New Zealand was the largest mass suicide of mammals in recent decades.
The Department of Conservation has launched a rescue operation. Due to too many whales, local residents had to be involved in the operation. People carried buckets, towels and sheets to the beach to cool and moisturize the whales. However, at least 300 of them died.
About a hundred more were sent out to sea along with the tide. However, the whales did not go deep and remained close to the beach. Rescuers are afraid that together with the ebb they will again rush to the shore.
The incident was the third largest whale suicide in New Zealand. In 1918, a thousand whales threw themselves onto the shores of the Chatham Islands; in 1985, 450 animals died near Auckland. About 300 whales are washed up on New Zealand's coast every year.
Why do whales wash up on shore
Dmitry Glazov, specialist of the Severtsov Institute for Problems of Evolution and Ecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
Scientists have not yet come to a consensus on the causes of mass suicides of cetaceans, but there are a number of facts that can be associated with such incidents. When the English flotilla tested new sonars in the Mediterranean, there were dolphin emissions. There are cases when dolphins are thrown out due to diseases, porpoises are thrown out due to a viral infection of the hearing aid. Last year, more than 300 Caspian seals were thrown out in Dagestan: at this time, our military launched rockets from the Caspian flotilla in Syria, so this may be related.
Often, mammals are credited with mental disorders. But we cannot prove this. We still cannot decipher their language, and even more so to get into their brains.
There are natural phenomena. New Zealand has a fairly active seismic zone, so underground movements could disrupt the animals' orientation. Surprisingly, the rescued 100 individuals, which were released into the sea, still tried to wash ashore - this suggests that the disorientation was long-lasting. There is intoxication. A pod of dolphins has attacked an infected fish, and this is affecting one way or another. It is also surprising that 400 individuals jumped out at once in one place, not along the entire coast. More often it happens that corpses are found for several tens of kilometers - and here everything is in one place.
Animals in this case have two problems: drying out and lack of breath. Firstly, you need to constantly water them with water, and secondly, provide water to the respiratory organs, while making sure that the animals do not choke.
A dead whale on the shore is a sad sight, forcing us to try to understand the cause of death of such a massive and beautiful animal. And if it's not one whale, but two, five, dozens?
Why do whales wash up on shore?
The massive beaching of whales is one of the tragic and intriguing mysteries of nature, over which many scientists are puzzling over 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 ocean expanses end their lives on a sandy shore and die under the scorching sun? Why did the whales come ashore?
For example, in February 2015, about 200 dolphins washed up on the coast of New Zealand. According to scientists, such a mass phenomenon has not been observed for more than 10 years. Despite the best efforts of rescuers, only a hundred individuals managed to survive.
The rest died under 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.
Ocean sound pollution
The boundless 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-made noises (from submarine engines, mining, military testing and fishing). As a result, under the influence of sonar, dolphins and whales lose their hearing by almost 40%.
What does the loss of hearing (a delicate instrument capable of distinguishing the slightest vibrations in water) mean for an animal whose life depends on the ability to hear? Underwater sound traps disorientate animals in the water space, knocking them off their usual path, so whales and dolphins, lost in space, swim out to shallow water.
Too fast ascent to the surface contributes to the occurrence of bend sickness 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 during the autopsy of dead animals. The nitrogen bubbles contained in the blood of whales, according to scientists, can be directly affected by loud sounds from submarine engines and explosions. Under the action of sound waves, the bubbles, rapidly increasing and shrinking, 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 (lung ruptures and bleeding internal organs) scientists observed whales and dolphins stranded during or after military exercises while surveying. For example, in 1989 during naval exercises 24 whales washed ashore near the Canary Islands. Why did the whales come ashore? Most likely, the unbearable underwater noise, which literally deafened the aquatic inhabitants, became the reason. The harm caused by submarines to marine life is most carefully studied by the Americans, since it is in this country that the military complex is subjected to the strongest public pressure.
The throwing of whales ashore took place even before the manifestation of the technogenic evolution of mankind and the appearance submarines. What in those days could cause this feature of the inhabitants of the oceans? In 1950, 64 whales washed up on the coast of Stronsay Island, 5 years later 66 dolphins died here. What makes animals choose this way of dying? Why did the whales come ashore?
Failure of magnetic fields?
According to the theory of Margaret Klinowski, whales annually migrate to warm waters to mate and give birth, after which marine animals return. The travel paths largely depend on magnetic fields, which are a kind of landmarks. In places where these fields fluctuate the most, whales can lose their bearings and swim in shallow water. It has been observed that mass suicides of whales mainly occur immediately after solar flares that distort the magnetic lines.
According to one version, whales are washed ashore due to changing climatic conditions. Ocean currents bring cold water from Antarctica, forcing whales to swim in shallow water to keep warm. In Australia, the release of more than 80 whales was recorded, literally dotting with their bodies a five-kilometer coastal zone. Only 25 individuals were saved.
Why did the whales come ashore? What caused the mass suicide? Maybe a loss of orientation, which weather conditions can disrupt? In stormy weather, with gusty strong winds, a storm tide or the so-called surge of water can occur. An animal, swimming too close to land, may remain there, not orienting itself in time when the water subsides.
Self-regulation of numbers is another suggestion of mass beaching of whales. The version exists, although the number of whales in nature is not so large that it is required to reduce it.
The cause of the death of whales - pollution of the oceans?
As a reason for the massive beaching of whales, one can consider the pollution of the World Ocean, which is gradually turning into a dump of catastrophic proportions. A special accumulation of garbage, a fifth of which is industrial emissions and oil waste, falls on the coast of the Hawaiian Islands. In size, this garbage patch, located in the Pacific Ocean, is commensurate with the continental United States. Naturally, such a huge dump, the mass of which exceeds 100 million tons, negatively affects cetaceans. Although these animals are not fish and, unlike them, breathe air rather than dissolved oxygen in a polluted aquatic environment, damage from such dumps can be caused by injuries and getting into oil slicks.
Perhaps a socio-psychological factor?
The psychic hypothesis is also put forward as one of the reasons for the massive beaching of whales. Whales and dolphins are social animals subject to the influence of the leader. If the latter loses orientation in space and leads the flock to shallow water, then the animals, despite the mortal danger, still continue to follow him.
There is an infectious theory of suicide of cetaceans, which is now paying special attention to scientists around the world. Some viruses that infect mammals adversely affect the hearing apparatus of animals, causing diseases such as meningitis and encephalitis, provoking the failure of the echolocation system. Having lost orientation in space, the whale (photo can be seen in the article) begins to suffocate, therefore it is thrown ashore in order to ease its breathing.
Returning to your native element will only exacerbate the situation. Previously, it was believed that cetaceans do not succumb to damaging viruses. In fact, their carriers can be harbor seals - the food of killer whales.
Having accidentally landed on the shore, the animal can give distress signals to its fellows, who immediately rush to the rescue of the poor fellow and fall into the same trap, also calling for help.
Loading...