Radio New Zealand and the New York Times report that two pods of pilot whales, totalling 640 individuals, grounded themselves on a New Zealand beach on Thursday and Saturday. Volunteers tagged and re-floated some members of the first group; none of those were found in the second group. Pilot whales are a type of dolphin. The reason for the groundings is unknown, but mass strandings at the same site, Farewell Spit, have been observed before.
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640 Pilot Whales Run Aground on New Zealand Beach
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(Score: 5, Funny) by requerdanos on Sunday February 12 2017, @01:53PM
This is an animal kingdom tragedy, but at least it should stop now. 640 should be enough for anyone.
(Score: 1) by Pax on Sunday February 12 2017, @02:28PM
just think of the timing..... this is a porpoise protest against Trump's anti-muslim ban.. :P
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday February 12 2017, @02:37PM
Perhaps they tried to reach Peter Thiels doomsday bunker? The whales know something we don't ...
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/02/02/0916251 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Sunday February 12 2017, @04:32PM
Peter Thiel is a man of exotic taste. The bunker is to be made out of the whale bones, skin for lavish furnishing, and whale oil lamps for that rustic look.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday February 12 2017, @09:07PM
You don't even wanna know what he uses their blowholes for.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Sunday February 12 2017, @05:07PM
Is it a common/natural thing for pods of whales to do this, or can this be blamed on the usage of sonar? From what I understand the US/Europe/UK/Russia do not use the sort that disorients whales unless necessary. But does China care? I kind of assumed wherever there was a pod of whales sudokuing it was a sign that the Chinese were either holding operations in the area or that they wanted us to think they were.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by Flyingmoose on Sunday February 12 2017, @05:26PM
Sudokuing? You mean sitting around playing that crossword-like numbers game?
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday February 12 2017, @06:28PM
I kind of assumed wherever there was a pod of whales sudokuing
I know they're intelligent mammals, but how do they hold their pens? Or stop their newspapers getting soggy?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 3, Informative) by mrchew1982 on Sunday February 12 2017, @06:33PM
Seppuku is the word you're looking for I think... But it means to disembowel one's self, not commit suicide per se, same as harakiri. I think karoshi is probably more apropos...
My first thought was Chinese sonar too, especially given the tensions in the South China Sea.
(Score: 3, Funny) by requerdanos on Tuesday February 14 2017, @12:31AM
Speaking as a not-remotely-asian, I contend that "sudokuing", despite meaning something close to "doing math puzzles", somehow conveyed the mass effort of the whales to me in an almost natural way.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday February 13 2017, @03:25AM
The Wikipedia page I linked in the summary says there were mass strandings in the same place in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Linked from there is a BBC News article about possible reasons for mass strandings, both at Farewell Spit and in general. It says there's evidence that sonar can be a cause, but that there's also evidence that they've been happening for at least 5 million years. They may, however, be happening more often now.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150225-do-dying-whales-go-to-graveyards [bbc.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 14 2017, @05:36AM
Besides sonar there is there is micro plastics now. http://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/2017/02/stranded-whale-full-plastic/ [plasticsoupfoundation.org]