Pilot Whale Strandings Still a Mystery But Found to Be From Different Families, Groups

Aberystwyth University researchers have recently found evidence that stranded pilot whales in the northeast Atlantic and the Falkland Islands were from various family groups.

As specified in a Newsweek report, the mystery behind the mass whale strandings has deepened. This contradicts the previous theories of scientists about such a phenomenon.

Cetacean strandings, particularly when mammals wash up on beaches, can be deadly. Long-finned pilot whales are among the species most affected, together with other dolphin types.

Scientists have previously suspected that these socially complex animals turn stranded as they try to keep family cohesion.

Whale Stranding Occurences

The whales spend most of their lives in family pods, where all the members are related to a single female, meaning they may get stranded in desperate initiatives to stay together when they find themselves in difficult waters.

Scientists at the Aberystwith, who are working with researchers from the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department, the universities of Glasgow, Chester, and Utrecht, the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, and the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, received and examined samples from stranding occurrences in the northeast Atlantic and the Falklands.

They found that most of the stranded whales were unrelated, suggesting that strandings were down to disruption of families instead of cohesion.

A report from Sustainable Action Now said that the findings offer further evidence that three may be a mixing of family units at some stage during stranding processes.

Coming from Different Whale Groups

It remains to be seen to what extent this becomes a cause, or a result of mass strandings, explained Niall McKeown, a marine biology lecturer at Aberystwyth University and member of the research team.

The study reveals that mixed family groups within a mass stranding occurrence. It may reflect a more complex social society, as well, than assumed for long-finned pilot whales. Additional studies will help in the disentangling of certain factors and be of great relevance to rescue techniques.

According to the university, assumptions that all stranded whales are from the same pod could compromise rescue efforts.

This is due to the fact that refloating whales that are not related to each other will frequently cause them to become stranded again, explained the researchers.

Pilot Whales

Pilot whales are famous for their being highly protective of their family members. The species are called such since the whales follow a single female in the pod throughout their lives.

Individual strandings can occur when a marine mammal falls ill or is injured. Sometimes this prevents them from being unable to go back to the water.

Some whales strand after they become disoriented when theft accidentally find themselves in shallow water. Approximately 2,000 whale strandings, also reported in The Conversation in 2017, occur globally each year.

Related information about mass whale stranding is shown on Ngan Nguyen's YouTube video below:

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