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Showing posts with the label whale death

Seaquake Strands 200 Pilot Whales in New Zealand

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One hundred and forty of the 200 pilot whales stranded themselves on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay, South Island, New Zealand, have died. They were injured by an earthquake south of South Island (see below). About 80 conservation workers and volunteers were trying to refloat the whales as high tide rolled in ,   Department of Conservation area manager Andrew Lamason said  that Farewell Spit is  a big, shallow hook. The whales come in, they get disoriented , and unfortunately we end up with a lot of dead whales.   We've had plenty times in the past where the pods have gone out to sea and turned around and come back again," he added. This disorientation is supposedly cause by the shallow water. The question is if shallow water disoriented them, why didn't they just just stay offshore where they could navigated? Humm? Don't sound right to me . My 40 years of research says pressure changes during the earthquake caused them to be disoriented (see below). I believ

Seaquake Causes 6 Killer Whales to Beach in Iceland

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APRIL 30, 2013:   Six killer whales with seaquake-impaired biosonar were washed ashore in the early morning hours of April 30 just east of the village of Heiðarhöfn on the northern coast of Iceland's Langanes Peninsular. Two were dead by the time rescuers arrived. Two others were supposedly pushed back out to sea. These killer whales were likely from the local fish-eating group that feed primarily on herring and other schooling fish found in abundance off  the coast of Northern Iceland near Grimsey and Flatey Islands, and the Bay at Husivik  Killer whale pods are often spotted in these areas. Undersea earthquakes are also known to occur, especially near Grimsey Island.  This is exactly what happened eight times on 02 April, 27 days before the mass stranding. The seismic activity started with an extremely shallow 5.2 magnitude quake followed by 7 aftershocks: 2013-04-02   00:59:14.0   66.47N; 17.80W    2km deep;  5.2 mag. 2013-04-02   01:13:23.0   66.28N; 17.72W