Discussion»Questions»Animals (Wild)» A pod of whales wandered into a shallow bay in New Zealand. 416 of them were beached. Could that have been prevented? How?
Perhaps not prevented though I remember about 20 years ago some whales lost in Scapa Flow were lured out into safe waters by a survey ship playing recorded, appropriate, whale-calls in the water.
These strandings are sadly not all that rare, and I'm not sure if anyone knows why it happens, but once in the shallows the animals might panic and lose all sense of direction. It's worsened by being herd animals, which tend to lose individuality when the herd is stressed. Although that can be positive, it can also act against them.
That's just so sad! Dolphins have some kind of sonar going for them don't they Durdle? Does that let them know if a place is too shallow for them to be safe so they will avoid it? Do whales have that too? I wonder how it works and why it can't let them know in advance what to avoid? Thank you for your reply! :)
Dolphins do indeed use sonar and it may help them avoid obstacles, but is more particularly to find the fish that are their prey. I think whales have similar, especially those species that dive very deep, beyond daylight, for their prey. (The spermaceti, an oil, in the heads of sperm whales may be part of their "sonar".)
Whether these mechanisms can help the animals avoid dangerously shallow water, though, is another matter. It may do but sensing something and acting correctly on the information are two very different things; the background to the herd panic to which I alluded previously. Also, I don't know if the animals' sonar is really suited to such navigation anyway; and in very shallow water the vital echoes would probably become a very mixed-up scramble mixed with the herd-mates' calls and wave-noise, thus confusing and distressing the animal further.
I don't think anyone really knows why these sad incidents occur, because we cannot know what is going on in the creatures' minds.
Durdle 