THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY WHALES MASS STRAND

June 01, 2015: The pod was first spotted at 4.40 pm on Monday (June 1st) off the coast near the city of Staffin, which is situated on Scotland's Isle of Skye. Mike Merritt took a picture of the pod. lost pilot whales spyhopping trying to determine her location Notice that the pod is not swimming in any direction, or diving and feeding. They are sort of drifting along in a relatively calm sea. One whale can be seen raising his head out of the water trying to see what's going on around and near the pod. This is called spyhopping and is strong indication that the pod has no acoustic sense of direction. The loss of their biosonar was most likely due to a previous barotraumatic sinus injury caused by exposure to seismic waves above the epicenter of an earthquake along the Reykjanes Ridge ( see below). Spyhopping behavior is common in pilot whales prior to beaching themselves ( link ). They are obviously trying to see a way out of the jam they are in. The weath...

dead whale washed ashore by the incoming tide and wind-driven current I'm going to use the dead whales washing ashore on the West Coast to show you how whale scientists have been misleading the public for decades about why toothed whales (odontoceti) beach themselves. As to the recent West Coast incident, here's a link with the latest scientific opinions ( link ) about why the dead baleen whales are stranding. Marine Fisheries Services biologist Justin Viezbicke, coordinator of NOAA's West Coast Stranding Network, said "the appearance of higher than usual numbers may be a function of a strong onshore current and wind conditions bringing ashore whales that otherwise would decompose in the ocean."    The above correct statement was supported by  Mary Jane Schramm, who said, "One of the reasons we are seeing such a cluster at one time is we have very strong winds that have been blowing consistently washing things onto shore.” ( link ) These t...