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| courtesy: NOAA |
dolphins in the northeast, marine biologists are perplexed by what has caused 93 whales to be stranded in the last two months. They have ruled out Navy sonar, however, since no exercises were being conducted near the strandings; however, storms can disorient them. 91 of the whales were stranded in two incidents. On December 4th 43 pilot whales were caught in the shallows of Everglades National Park. Nine died. Four days later 11 pilot of whales of the same pod beached at Snipe Point and all of those died. Between January 19th and 22nd, 12 pilot whales beached between Naples and Fort Myers. Eight died in that episode. On the 25th, twenty-five more whales believed to be of the same pod were found dead on Kice Island. Pilot whales, despite their name, are apparently notorious for going aground. There are records of mass strandings in New England going back to Puritan settlements. Two sperm whales were found dead during the same time period. Pilot and sperm whales are deep divers and rarely come near shallow water. If they do, it is generally because something is distressing the mammals say experts. On average, Florida has 200 whales each year strand on its coast with a mass episode occurring about every three years. Biologists took tissue samples for examination from the beached whales.