The ocean hides a lot of secrets, and people do not always manage to unravel them. Despite the level of development of science, there are still many questions that humanity would like to receive answers to. Just recall the whales. I managed to find out a lot of information about their life. But what happens after their death? How do whales die and why does this happen? There are several scenarios.
Places of mass death of whales
To answer the question of how whales die, you need to figure out where this happens. Many cases have been recorded when whales were thrown ashore, and this could be both a solitary phenomenon and a mass one. Presumably, whole cemeteries of these animals are located on the ocean floor, given their lifespan and population. However, until that time only lonely carcasses of dead animals were found.
Much more interesting is the answer to the question of why whales die on land. Whether they are thrown away on their own, or is it an accident, for example, during a storm.
There are many places on our planet where cases of mass death of whales on the coast have been recorded. They threw themselves, or this happened as a result of the activities of people, we will still consider. But where does this happen?
Notorious is the beach of Farwell Spit, which is located on one of the islands of New Zealand. In February of this year, about 200 individuals of a grind (one of the species of whales) were washed ashore . According to scientists, such an incident on such a scale happened for the first time in ten years. Despite all attempts to save the animals, about a hundred still died. By all indications, it was like mass suicide. But what caused this whale decision?
Farwell sleeps is not the only place where hundreds of cetaceans die. For example, more than 800 individuals are found each year on the UK coast alone. Even if we assume that the weather is to blame, why do the whales die when they are washed ashore during a storm? It's all about the huge mass of the animal. Left without water support, they are crushed by their own weight.
Now you need to consider why the whales are being washed ashore.
Ocean pollution problem
The first reason is pretty obvious. Human activities almost always bring harm to other living things. Whales are no exception. Every year, a huge amount of garbage gets into the oceans - more than a million tons. Basically, it falls into the water from beaches that do not have time to clean up on time. Do not forget about passenger, cargo and fishing vessels. Straying in heaps, this garbage attracts animals that can swallow it.
This theory has many confirmations. Repeatedly in the stomachs of animals that were washed ashore and died, kilograms of synthetic waste were found. For example, in 2002, two sperm whales immediately landed on the coast of the United States. In the stomach of each of them more than 200 kg of fishing nets and other garbage were found.
Animals cannot get rid of it on their own. Synthetic wastes cause whirling of intestines in whales . To rid themselves of suffering, animals commit suicide.
This version is quite convincing for single or paired cases that concern the death of whales. However, she does not explain mass suicides.
Military action
Answering the question of why whales die, many zoologists claim that this is due to powerful sonar locators that the military use on their ships. They are able to send signals over long distances. By nature, whales are quite shy. They hunt at great depths where there are no rivals, which means that no extraneous sounds are also observed there.
Hearing the sounds of the sonar, the animal is frightened and tries to surface as soon as possible. This causes the whales to lose their orientation in space. In addition, a quick ascent threatens that they have to endure a large change in pressure, because of which gas bubbles can form in the animal’s blood.
In 2008, in the area of the island of Madagascar, a massive death of whales was recorded, although before there were no such incidents on this territory. The death of animals associated with the operation of the sonar.
But it would be wrong to shift all the blame onto the military without considering other versions.
Nature's evil joke
Natural causes should not be ruled out that will help answer the question of why and how whales die.
One of them is a change in the wind rose. Scientists noted that mass suicides happen every 11-13 years when such natural changes occur. The altered wind drives the plankton that these animals feed on to the shore, and disoriented whales are thrown ashore in search of food.
Sick leader
Another reason for these tragic cases may lie in the social organization of whales. They live in large enough groups, which include males, females, as well as cubs. Each such group has a dominant leader. If he is sick or loses his orientation, he endangers all other members of the pack. Animals die, and scientists can only guess why and how whales die. Photos of the evidence for this theory are also many.
For example, a case was recorded that occurred in 2012 near the coast of Scotland. Then a whole flock of black dolphins was discovered, which jumped ashore. Among them is an old sick male.
It is possible that a sick animal is trying to land ashore so as not to endanger other members of the pack. However, they continue to follow their leader and find their doom.
Whales were washed ashore in the prehistoric era
Despite the obviousness and logic of all the above arguments, one cannot close one’s eyes to such a fact: whales were thrown ashore even before the first man appeared on Earth . The last confirmation of this was found in 2014. In Chile, scientists discovered the remains of four whales, which were thrown on land at different times with an interval of about 5 million years. It seems that whales were thrown ashore in the prehistoric era, when human activity could not be the reason. Scientists suggest that animals could be poisoned by algae. Some of them are really very toxic to whales.
Thus, no scientist can give an exact answer to the question of why and how whales die. Most of them agree that the reason for this is the totality of all of the above factors.