53 Short Finned Pilot Whales Leave 2016’s Bay of Bengal Mass Stranding

Summary: Fifty-three short finned pilot whales may survive deep-sea relocations from a mass stranding that kills 45 pod members off southern India’s Bay of Bengal.

photo by Sudalaikumar Kumar/Barcroft TV: NDTV @ndtv, via Twitter  Jan. 13, 2016

Short finned pilot whales are washing ashore on Bay of Bengal coastlines of the Manapad beach in the Tuticorin district of southeast India’s Tamil Nadu state since Monday evening, Jan. 11, 2016.

Initial counts bring totals to more than 80, according to M. Ravi Kumar, top Indian Administrative Service collection officer in Tuticorin, district headquarters and port city. Mr. Kumar calculated the removal by mammal rescue team members of at least 36 of the beached, disoriented short finned pilot whales back to the Indian Ocean. He described some removals as coming back to join other arrivals, for a revised total at more than 100 according to the Press Trust of India.

Record searches exposed mass stranding in 1973.

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration find that short finned pilot whales, one of the largest dolphin family species, beach onto beaches frequently and inexplicably.

Mr. Kumar gives Tuesday’s fatalities: “At least 45 short-nosed [sic] pilot whales beached were later confirmed dead on the coast of Tiruchendur,” district south of Tuticorin.  He holds that eight sub-adult and 37 adult deaths suggest either leaderless pods since males lead short finned pilot whale groups or shipping trade route collisions.

G. Sugumar of Fisheries College and Research Institute indicates possible squid-chasing forages “in the intertidal areas during last phase of the high tide” and shallow-water stranding.

Mystery joined precedent in 147 deaths after mass beaching Jan. 14, 1973.

The results of Manapad beach water samples for dissolved oxygen content, salinity and temperature kept within normal ranges, according to Fisheries College and Research Institute researchers.

Mathews Gilbert of Suganthi Devathasan Marine Institute listed critical states of short finned pilot whale skin samples as motivating boating 53 survivors 1,640.42 feet (500 meters) away.

Deepak S. Bilgi of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve mentioned 3,280.84-foot (1,000-meter) depths in tropical waters as typical habitat niches worldwide for short finned pilot whales. He noted: “The whales were exposed for six to eight hours. The younger ones responded well. Only on Wednesday, we will come to know [survival rates].”

Non-existent stranded marine mammal rescue protocols obstructed 1973, 2012, 2015 and 2016 responses.

Short finned pilot whales prove to be such intelligent, loyal and social pod members that they die trying to help one another rather than abandon the group. Scientists question whether sounds that people cannot hear short finned pilot whales emitting to one another are emphasizing solidarity of grieving survivors or solidarity with fallen comrades.

A. Murugan of Valliappan Olaganathan Chidambaram College reveals that returns to fatal 9.32-mile (15-kilometer) stretches between Alanthalai and Kallamozhi may indicate disrupted sonar or group loyalty. S.P. Udayakumar of People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy suggests that the disrupted sonar may implicate waste from Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, closed since June 24, 2015.

Stranding taunts scientists with misunderstood short finned pilot whale life cycles and natural histories.

short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) range map: NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Public Domain, via NOAA Fisheries

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

photo by Sudalaikumar Kumar/Barcroft TV: NDTV @ndtv, via Twitter Jan. 12, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/ndtv/status/687178009158144000

short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) range map: NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Public Domain, via NOAA Fisheries @ https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/short-finned-pilot-whale

For further information:

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