Mass Suicide
 

or what???

I just don't get why these aquatic mammals do this. It so heart-breaking to see and hear the stories.

Maybe some drug runner had to dump his heroin over the side of the ship.

Does it seem to anyone else that this sort of thing is happening more often? Or is it because of more news coverage?

I don't know but I just find it so strange. These are our ancestors and I want to try to rationalize and humanize the events. I just don't see why whole pods do it.

It's nature, something we'll never fully understand.

I think you did it. :wobble:

Oops sorry is my Darwin showing?! :p

After further searching I found this site... it is pretty interesting. There are may hypothesis as to why whales or dolphins strand themselves and this article explains those pretty well..

http://www.wdcs.org/dan/publishing....02568F20048794C

Heard on the news that one group is blaiming the Navy's sonar for disorenting the dolphins.

Along with possible causes that may be human produced, there should be a serious research of historic whaling and coastal commercial fishing records happening.

Are there any accounts of such happenings before the advent of sonar and such?

Don't you remember?



:rofl:

Cheyanne. Interesting article on the strandings. Thanks! ;)

Just found this info out... :(

AP News Headlines
Mar 6, 10:42 AM EST

Dolphin beaching came after sub exercise

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) -- The Navy and marine wildlife experts are investigating whether the beaching of dozens of dolphins in the Florida Keys followed the use of sonar by a submarine on a training exercise off the coast.

More than 20 rough-toothed dolphins have died since Wednesday's beaching by about 70 of the marine mammals, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary spokeswoman Cheva Heck said Saturday.

A day before the dolphins swam ashore, the USS Philadelphia had conducted exercises with Navy SEALs off Key West, about 45 miles from Marathon, where the dolphins became stranded.

Navy officials refused to say if the submarine, based at Groton, Conn., used its sonar during the exercise.

Some scientists surmise that loud bursts of sonar, which can be heard for miles in the water, may disorient or scare marine mammals, causing them to surface too quickly and suffer the equivalent of what divers know as the bends - when sudden decompression forms nitrogen bubbles in tissue.

"This is absolutely high priority," said Lt. Cdr. Jensin Sommer, spokeswoman for Norfolk, Va.-based Naval Submarine Forces. "We are looking into this. We want to be good stewards of the environment, and any time there are strandings of marine mammals, we look into the operations and locations of any ships that might have been operating in that area."

Experts are conducting necropsies on the dead dolphins, looking for signs of trauma that could have been inflicted by loud noises.

Nitrogen narcosis (the bends) is not hard to detect. Now let’s see if the results of the autopsy is published.