Thu Sep 22, 2022 02:25 in General Talk
Again 230 whales are stranded in shallow waters in Macquarie Harbour. Again and again they get lost in the shallow waters. In fact, the animals' natural instincts should protect them from erroneous navigation. But something isn't going well. Already in 2020 many hundreds of whales had died in the same place, in the last week only in another place nearby.
Are environmental influences to blame for the misery? "Unfortunately, the pilot whales' probability of survival is low," said whale researcher Olaf Meynecke of Griffith University in Queensland. Even if the surviving whales were transported to the open sea, many could attempt to return to their stranded friends and family members. Pilot whales, form very close bonds with one another, Meynecke said. The stress is therefore very great for the animals. "Some animals will make it, but the majority of them will die."