planet earth looks blue

On the shores of Hamelin Bay in western Australia around 80 whales and bottlenose dolphins became stranded over the weekend.  Already 67 have died, but rescuers and volunteers are doing their best to revive the remaining whales so they can return to the sea.  The first whale was discovered on Saturday.  A tissue sample was taken connecting this whale with a previous pod that washed up on King Island in Tasmania at the beginning of March.  Then 194 whales and 7 dolphins were found - just over 50 survived.

As strange and contrary to logic this seems, mass whale beachings occur regularly on Australian and New Zealand shores.  The reasons behind this phenomena are unknown, although some believe it is because of disturbing sounds from human activity, military use of sonar, or changes in their echo-location.  Whales use magnetic fields to orient themselves, so when there is any deviation they could become confused.  Anton Van Helden, an expert on whale beaching believes it is due to sea mammals’ close social bonds.  One creature may find itself stranded.  Others in the whale’s pod are responding to the distress call, but ended up getting stranded themselves.