whale strandings
Marine mammals ashore
Whale strandings occur when whales become stuck on beaches or in shallow water, unable to return to the sea.
Single strandings often involve sick or disoriented individuals, while mass strandings—sometimes dozens of whales at once—remain poorly understood, possibly linked to sonar interference, magnetic field anomalies, or social bonds that cause healthy whales to follow distressed pod members ashore.
Volunteers worked through the night to keep the stranded whales wet.
- beachingLanding on shore
- dolphinsSmart aquatic mammals
- cetaceansAquatic mammals, fully marine
- coastlineLand-water boundary
- rescueSave from harm
beach rescue · marine · sonar · pods · tides · high tide · decomposition · necropsy · volunteers · marine biologists · sand · disorientation · mass · blowholes · flippers · carcass · mammals · navigation
- ocean threatscoral bleaching, overfishing, acidification, oil spills, plastic waste
- water pollutionsewage, industrial waste, contaminants, algal bloom, toxic waste
- whale sciencemigration patterns, echolocation, photo ID, satellite tracking, vocalizations
- ocean healthocean acidification, coral bleaching, marine pollution, overfishing, plastic pollution
- pollution effectsdead zones, fish kills, algal blooms, eutrophication, oxygen depletion
- sea phenomenawaves, tides, currents, storm surges, rogue waves