Pod of 20 Whales Beached on Remote Australia Coast

[emad]

Pod of 20 Whales Beached on Remote Australia Coast
Tue Dec 28, 2004 04:36 AM ET
Mystery Beaching In Tasmania


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Twenty adult female sperm whales have been found washed up on a remote Australian beach but wildlife officials on Tuesday were unable to explain the third such mass stranding in the same area in a month.

The whales, each between seven and 23-32 feet long, were discovered dead late on Monday on a beach near Strahan, 110 miles west of Hobart on the southern island state of Tasmania.

Scientists said it was impossible to tell if the mass beaching was linked to a huge earthquake recorded between Tasmania and Antarctica last week.

"It's very hard to pinpoint those sort of things because ... this year has been a year when we've had lots of strandings anyway and obviously they've all happened without an earthquake," zoologist Mark Hindell told Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) television.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=4LTO4E3AJGOQYCRBAEZSFFA?type=scienceNews&storyID=7190680

FALLOUT from the Aisan tsunami????

[SariesNightly]

1. Sonic Screaming

Does sound travel better in water?

If the magnitude 9 quake is like a million Hiroshimas, the sensitive ear drums of whales, dolphins and other sea cretures must suffer hundreds of times the same effect of a human's in a closed area with a bomb exploding.

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. i don't think so

or else there would be mass beachings everywhere wouldn't there?

[emad]

5. Maybe they haven't been spotted elsewhere yet?

[Squatch]

3. Correlation does not equal causation

"Scientists said it was impossible to tell if the mass beaching was linked to a huge earthquake recorded between Tasmania and Antarctica last week."

...or linked to a myriad of other factors. "Scientists" really do not know why whales beach themselves.

[Cerridwen]

4. I updated your link which didn't click right through for me.

- I "tiny-ed" it.

http://tinyurl.com/6zybt



:hi:

[emad]

6. Thank you!