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Question 31-40
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