Why do whales beach themselves?

Dear Tom, I was curious if you had any idea why whales beach themselves? Is it due to mans abuse of the mantle, core, atomic tests ? Regards,

Aaron Joseph

I do not know. Several things are certain though.

Whales are highly intelligent animals. They learn and adapt very quickly to new circumstances. Hence, it is highly likely that a beach suicide is their conscious choice, rather than some mistake.

There are plenty of easier ways for a whale to die. One is to stay under water and do not catch breath.

Overheating the inner core by covering Earth in a blanket of greenhouse gases causes changes in ocean temperature and a havoc in ocean currents. It is quite possible that there are other dramatic changes in the deep ocean that we are not aware of yet.

If whales sacrifice themselves to make us THINK - it means that they are much more intelligent than we have ever suspected them to be.

Tom

This perhaps also means, that whales think that we are much more intelligent, than we really are.

Motz

Quite possible. It is a fact that humans use only a tiny fraction of their intellectual potential. Whales may not be aware of it.

Tom

I asked my ethology teacher about beached whales, he said for the most part it is unknown why whales get beached, but that the current theory of ethologists is that whales can manuver around by sensing the magnetic field of the earth, and that for some unknown reason this sense is being manipulated confusing the whales onto shore.

mike

As you know whales have much more than one sense and are VERY INTELLIGENT. Intelligence is equivalent to the ability to adapt quickly to a totally new set of circumstances.

Hence it is highly unlikely that the "magnetic field navigation" is a reason for choosing to endure the suffering of slow death in too shallow water. I am absolutely sure that whales have more than one sense to detect the depth of water ahead of them. One of them is touch.

Tom

It seems like nature telling part of itself (us) that things are going the wrong way.

Mr Fujisawa