Mass Strandings of Whales and Dolphins

Mass strandings: situations where groups of whales, dolphins, etc. swim onto the beach and die

Common in areas where the  can change quickly

Several other theories:

Parasites

e.g. some parasites can affect marine animals'     , which they depend on for navigation

Toxins

Poisons from     or    are commonly consumed by whales

e.g. Cape Cod (1988) – whales were killed by saxitoxin

Accidental Strandings

Animals may follow prey ashore, e.g. Thurston (1995)

Unlikely because the majority of animals were not     when they stranded

Human Activity

    from military tests are linked to some recent strandings

The Bahamas (2000) stranding was unusual because the whales

-were all     

-were not in a     

Group Behaviour

-More strandings in the most     species of whales

-1994 dolphin stranding – only the     was ill

Further Reading

Marine Mammals Ashore (Connor) – gives information about stranding