Whale They Continue to Beach?

    The article Marine Biologist Baffled by Beached Whales in Florida by Sun Sentinel, http://www.newsela.com/articles/whale-beachings/id/2659/, is about the large amounts of whales that have been popping up on shore all around Florida’s coastlines.

     All types of whales are a huge part of ocean life as we know it. But do you know how many whales are beaching each day in different parts of the world? Within the past two months, 90+ whales have been found stranded on a ton of different beaches all around Florida, which is about three times the average amount. These outrageous occurrences have marine biologist baffled as to why so many whales are appearing on the coastlines. But one thing that they’re pondering the most is that it’s not just one type of whale. It’s many different species.

      Biologists are trying to come up with possible theories as to why all these whales are beaching. One theory is that the whales might be carrying morbillivirus. It says in the article, “The ailment is similar to canine distemper, which can kill dogs, and has been attacking dolphins along the East Coast this year. But examinations of dead whales have failed to confirm this.”

     Another theory made by marine mammal biologist Erin Fougere is that the cold fronts that have been moving through Florida for this past month could be a factor. She said, “Any kind of front or a hurricane disorients the animals, and they come in. Nothing so far is definite. There are cases where we just never know the cause.”

     Authorities said that about 200 whales wash up to shore each year in Florida and about one “mass stranding” happens every three years in the state. But yet, just in the past two months, about 93 whales have washed up to shore, and 91 out of 93 were involved in a mass stranding. Fougere says in the article, “Mass strandings aren’t necessarily rare, but to have two so close together is.”



     The occurrences have a massive amount of whales coming up on the coast in such short amounts of time. It says in the article, “On Dec. 4, 43 pilot whales got caught in the shallows of Everglades National Park on the state’s southwestern coast, and nine died. Four days later, 11 pilot whales, part of the same pod, beached at Snipe Point near Key West, and all of them died. From Jan. 19–22, 12 pilot whales beached themselves between Naples and Fort Myers, and eight died or were put to sleep. On Jan. 23, 25 more whales, most believed to be part of the same pod, were found dead on Kice Island, south of Marco Island.”

     Florida seems to have the highest count of beached whales this year, and generally, California is pretty high up there as well. But to have this many whales pop up in just Florida alone is highly unusual.

      I thought this was a good article because it has to do with our unit on food chains. If all of these whales are beached and dying, ocean life populations of their prey will continue to grow and eventually become too large because they will not have as many predators to balance out their growth.