Marine biologists can’t always tell why pods of whales and dolphins – sometimes by the hundreds – will swim onto a beach and strand themselves in the surf; often dying en masse unless people manage to shove the behemoths back out to sea. Sometimes the whales are sick with pneumonia or some other illness. Sometimes they’ve suffered attacks from sharks or other whales species. Quirks in the Earth’s magnetic field – which whales follow as part of their biological navigation system – might also play a role. Mass strandings have been recorded as far back as 2,300 years ago, but some scientists speculate that strandings are on the rise today because of pollution and an increase in ocean noise caused by ship traffic and submarine sonar systems.
Picture Credit : Google