9/27/2004: Beached pygmy whale calf

Sad one here. This is a pygmy whale calf, and it is dying here.
Too young to survive, unweaned, two of them beached themselves
in Palm Beach Florida, for unknown reasons. Ahead of the storm.

It was put down; the woman here is just trying to comfort it.

It even looks sad -- poor thing.

Looks like 2 beached whales in that photo.

We have discovered the secret ingredient to Gatorade.

that picture is interesting in so many different ways

Now go to a major problem only recently discovered. Once whales could communicate maybe as much as half way across the ocean. But man is now dumping so much noise into the oceans that it already is known to cause damage to some whales brains. It is suspected that some noise sources are so loud that ocean mammals now become separated. This being especially problematic for the calves of whales who no longer can find their mother.

Most destructive is a new NATO sonar that is repeatedly suspected to cause mass beachings even 50 miles away. This frequency sonar is said to be the best sonar yet. However it uses the same frequencies that ocean mammals use - at power levels destructive to those animals. The Navy has agreed to limit their use of this sonar.

Other noise sources include noise created by new, larger ships. Yes, a secret to making shipping less costly is to produce less noise - put more energy into moving ships by producing less noise. However, ship technology is instead just producing more power for bigger ships. No major effort is known to reduce shipping noise on these larger ships. Dead mammals don't cost anything. Oil is still too cheap. Research and development costs money when MBAs are the primary decision makers.

And so we must ask why these whales are dying? Disease? Or man-made? The current thinking is that we cannot prove it is man-made. Therefore it must be from something else.

An old Star Trek story parodied the problem. Too many high warp spacecraft could disintegrate the fabric of space. There are always consequences to what we do. More power is never an ideal solution. Like it or not, the oceans are becoming a new treasured parkland that we must learn more about - or lose its benefits. Is this but a canary in the coalmine? Either we use science, or we do as George Jr does - consult the bible.

Whatever

Beachings or strandings as people in the industry call them have happened since before recorded time. There is no evidence it is more prevolent now than ever before and only heresay and questionable motives tie it to shipping.

It is true that certain frequency sonar does though and that frequency corresponds directly with the shockwaves created by an earthquake on the ocean floor though the range is miniscule in comparison.

Here is a well written article that discusses strandings and likely causes.

TW could probably find a way to blame George Jr. for them...

George told me it's God's will.
Welcome to the Cellar, Target.

Anyone remember that famous vid a few years back where they tried to blow up the dead whale?

They could probably get the job done here with an m–80 or two.

But the whale does look sad. Who knows what happened?

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce George told me it's God's will. Welcome to the Cellar, Target.

Same thing, they're interchangeable.

Hey, here's an idea...whale beachings are both naturally occuring AND man-made! Just like global warming...

*puts that can of worms down and dives behind a blast wall*

Yeah I was going to use 'dumb' but that might offend some rednecks sisters.

Will you argue that people are more intelligent than whales? People do stupid things that cause themselves harm. Is it not imaginable that a creature of less intelligence might do the same thing?

Some animals that are considered to be highly intelligent kill their offspring. Is that a capability you have considered?

You know what? It's still really sad. Death is a natural, beautiful part of life, but I hate to see a baby anything die.

I'm with you there Brianna, I hate seeing any baby animal suffer so much. I love watching animal documentaries (always watching Animal Planet on Foxtel), but I still cringe when I see any baby animal being killed or dying, be it natural or caused my us horrible humans. Especially hate seeing baby elephants being killed or dying.
Poor little whale.

Can't that lady push the whale out in the surf and then climb on her. I saw that Whale Rider movie and it really worked!

Except in Whale rider, the person wasn't the whale sized being of the two...