lute@abnjh.UUCP (J. Collymore) (10/08/84)
Last night (10/7/84) on the news I heard of another large scale whale beaching on the Massachusetts coast . This one seems to concern to the marine biologists who were on the scene. It seems that many such mass beachings during bad weather, however, this one was NOT during bad weather. Also, these beachings seem to becoming more frequent. I am curious, and concerned about this. Does anyone out there know if there have been any studies to determine why this happens? I have some likely guesses, and would be interested if anyone can tell me if these possibilities have already been investigated. 1. Do whale beachings seem to coincide (i.e. correlate) with any type of geomagnetic, geothermal, or geotopigraphical (above or below water) phenomena, that may serve to confuse them on when or where they are? 2. Do whale beachings seem to correlate with major medium to long range climatic changes? (e.g. during the brutal winter of 1976-77 was there a greater incidence of whale beachings than in other years?) 3. Have any autopsies on beached whales shown any high (or toxic) levels of any man-made substances, such as petrochemicals, that may be damaging or impairing organs, organ interaction, or neurochemical processes used in the migratory (i.e. directional) abilities of the whales? (This type of study could prove most revealing since the Earth's oceans have an ever-increasing number of oil slicks; and petrochemicals might be most readily identified in such autopsies). 4. Since whales use sounds, transmitted hundred of miles underwater, to communicate with other whales; could it be that because of increased man-made marine noise, the whales inter-pod communication links have broken down? In so doing, the whales can no longer send or receive information to pick up cues that tell them when and where to go in relation to the seasons, or the movements of other whale pods? All these questions/hypothesis are my own. I am a psychologist, NOT a marine biologist, but I would be very interested if someone would tell me if studies have been done on any of the above, or if someone out there is doing such studies. Please send me mail. Thank you. Jim Collymore