Earthquake Kills Pregnant Sperm Whale



Thursday, September 20, 2012

September 2012:  ZAMBOANGA CITY, PHILIPPINES -- A 52-footer pregnant sperm whale was found dead floating offshore east of this city, officials said Wednesday. The dead whale was first spotted floating at 6.932N; 122.271E  in shallow water just offshore of Sacol Island. It was carried to a special area and buried. (news article)



Local experts said it appeared that the whale had been dead only a few days; however, the many photographs of the whale indicated that it might have been dead much longer.

Deafwhale members checked to waters upstream for 3,000 miles looking for any seismic disturbances that might have injured this whale.  The only possible natural catastrophe we found was a potent thrusting earthquake that occurred only 115 miles from where the whales was first spotted. Very unusual.  We have never before found evidence that an earthquake killed a whale outright... but we have always felt it was possible.

It is our opinion that this whale directly above the epicenter of a whale-dangerous (thrusting) magnitude 5.8 quake that occurred in the Moro Gulf on 3 September 2012 at 6.610N; 123.875S.  The epicenter was along the edge of a deep drop off, 11 miles offshore on Kalamansig, Mindanao, not far from Catabato. Watch this video.....

The Moro Gulf is part of Celebes Sea and is surrounded by the Zamboanga Peninsula and the central part of Mindanao. Zamboanga City is the most important port city on its coast. The Moro Gulf is also an area of significant tectonic activity with several fault zones in the region capable of producing major earthquakes and destructive local tsunamis, such as the devastating 1976 Moro Gulf  quake which killed over 5,000 people and left over 90,000 people homeless as it hit the coast of Mindanao. Here's the way we see the death of this sperm whale:  She was chasing giant squid just above the seafloor when the quake suddenly erupted without warning. The changing water pressure (compressions and dilation) knocked the wind out of her and did fatal damage in an around the air pockets of her head.  The pressure waves might have also ruptured her heart.  She died almost instantly and sank to the bottom.  Bottom currents in the Moro Gulf rolled her carcass slowly ( at ~10 miles per day) across the seafloor toward Zamboanga.  The increased pressure at the deep bottom prevented decomposing gases from forming, and the cold water slowed decomposition giving the experts at the scene the impression she had died recently. Upwelling currents washed her carcass into shallow water near Sacol Island sometime around 14 September. As soon as the pressure was reduced on the carcass, it started to decompose and gases began to form. After 3-4 days in shallow water, and under much reduced pressure, the carcass pop up from the shallow bottom and was discovered by the Philippine authorities.      Sperm whales are deep water animals (due to its food, the giant squid) and are considered oceanic.  However, we find deep waters close to some islands in the Philippines where sperm whales come in close to shore.  Sperm whales have been reported regularly around the Bohol sea, Mindoro and the Moro Gulf.
The surface currents across the Moro Gulf would have washed the dead whale into the near shore waters near Sacol Island, so the sinking to the bottom is not necessary to support the SEAQUAKE SOLUTION to why whales strand themselves.

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2015
Dec 09: Whale Dangerous Earthquake South of Perth 
Dec 09: Seaquake causes dolphins to strand Baja California   
Nov 23: Seaquakes kill 322 baleen whales in Chile    (shocking)  
Aug 24: NOAA whale scientists dumbfounded   
Aug 14: stranded dolphin is determined to be deaf   
Aug 08: seaquake causes pilot whales to strand Nova Scotia   
Jul   27: is our stranding solution flawed as scientists claim   
Jun  01: pilots stranded Isles of Skye from Reykjanes Ridge   
May 22: dead whales washing ashore on the California Coast   
May 10: earthquake kills 20 Sei Whales near Chile Coast   
Apr  10: seaquake strands 150 melon-headed whales in Japan   

2014   
Dec 25: navigation failure in mass stranded whales  (most popular)   
Dec 08: seaquake causes 7 sperm whales to beach Australia   
Nov 24: seaquake beaches 3 sperm whales at Golden Bay   
Nov 04: seaquake beaches 60 pilot whales in Bay of Plenty   
Oct 29: nine pilot whales strand on Prince Edward Island   
Apr  11: 60 pilot whales beach in Bay of Plenty   
Mar 20: Cape Ray Newfoundland 37 dolphins beach   
Mar 14: undersea quakes louder than nuclear explosions   
Mar 13: seaquakes cause whale strandings 32 million years   
Mar 02: blue whale killed by seaquake in Kuwait   
Feb 27: seaquake kills young killer whale   
Feb 23: predicting mass beachings based on seaquakes   
Feb 21: lessons in understanding why whales beach   
Feb 18: seaquake Greenland Sea kills 3 sperm whales   
Feb 12: nine orcas killed by seaquake   
Jan 30: Cape Cod mass stranding predicted   
Jan 20: seaquake causes 39 pilot whales to strand Florida   
Jan 16: seaquakes beach 65 pilot whales in Golden Bay   
Jan 05: seaquake beaches 30 pilot whales in Golden Bay   

2013   
Dec 06: why did pilot whales beached in the everglades?   
Apr 30: seaquake beaches 6 killer whales in Iceland   
Apr 25: beached whales stop war games   

2012   
Dec 08: seaquake beach pilot whales South Carolina   
Nov 15: pilot whales beach at Golden Bay, New Zealand   
Nov 04: seaquake causes two pods to beach at King Island   
Oct 28:  pilot whales strand on North Andaman Island   
Oct 17: earthquakes cause New Zealand whale stranding   
Sep 09: earthquake kills pregnant sperm whale   
Sep 03: seaquake strands pilot whales in Scotland   
Aug 24: two quakes cause near beaching in Cape Verde   
Jul  28:  200 Pilot Whales Northwest of Iceland   
Mar 19: Four Sperm Whales Wash Ashore in China   

2011   
Dec  31: world's rarest whales killed by earthquake   
Mar 06: 52 melon-headed dolphins strand in Japan   

2008   
Nov 20: 52 Pilot Whales Stranded in Tasmania


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