The Whale Museum News & Events
Probing Question: Why Do Whales Beach Themselves?
State College, Pennsylvania (Apr 26, 2008 17:18 EST) Whales are the largest marine mammals in the world — the smallest species weigh in at several tons. When whales beach themselves, they can die simply from the crushing weight of their own bodies or from overheating due to their blubber, which is needed for insulation in cold ocean waters. What causes these often fatal incidents?
Strandings are of several types, said Susan Parks, a research associate in the Environmental Acoustics program in the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State. Individual strandings often are caused by isolated incidents such as sickness, injury or old age. Said Parks, "Entanglement in fishing gear is one of the leading causes of mortality for marine mammals, many of which wash up on shore dead or injured." The tide carries these whales into shallow water, depositing them on the beach.
Then there are multiple-species strandings, explained Parks. "This occurs when different species of marine mammals beach themselves at the same time and place, suggesting that they all died from the same cause," she said.
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