TASMANIA TRAGEDY
Dear HIW,
There was recently a mass whale stranding in Australia. What phenomenon causes this? Could there be any correlation to recent earthquakes in the Asia-pacific region? Rowan Macdonald
In September, around 230 pilot whales washed up on a beach on the west coast of Tasmania. When they were found, around half were already dead. Pilot whales are so large, growing up to six metres long, that when out of the water their organs can be damaged under their own weight. Scientists aren’t sure what brought so many of them to shore, but they do travel in large pods. Some think they were chasing prey such as squid, which can travel very close to the shore.
Tasmania is an island off the coast of Australia often referred to as a whale trap because beaching is relatively common there, likely due to the strong and fast-moving tides. When whales are hunting they can lose track of changing tides, causing them to become stranded. Whales also have strong social bonds, meaning some whales will hear the distress calls of other pod members and might attempt to help. Your comment about the recent earthquakes in the area is very interesting. Though there’s no evidence to say this may have happened, it’s true that earthquakes can alter the migration path of whales. At the time of an earthquake, the local magnetic field can become altered slightly. Some scientists say that whale migrations are driven by the animals detecting Earth’s magnetic field, so when earthquakes change these, it could cause strandings.