Whales Ashore!
Whale strandings are mysteries whenever they occur, and impossible to predict. Marine ecologist Dr Anjani Ganase considers some recent theories about whales’ navigational systems using the earth’s geomagnetic field and the sun. Human-driven changes are also causes. Over the last month, four melon headed whales stranded themselves on Moruga Beach, and later on there was a single stranding on Maracas Beach. Last year there was a single stranding of a pregnant melon headed whale in Princes Bay, Tobago. These strandings of melon headed whales in several locations around Trinidad and Tobago begs the question of what is the cause of these strandings in recent months. Necropsy – after death analysis - by the UWI School of Veterinary Medicine revealed parasitic infection in one examination of the whale carcasses. Melon headed whales are deep water toothed whales that can be found in tropical waters worldwide, down to 6000 feet depth and far from coastal areas. They usually occur in large ...