While it smells fishy (sorry, sorry), it's totally true -- beached whales can -- and do -- explode. After the whale dies, gases (most specifically, methane) build up in the stomach and other organs.
Burial at sea or beach? Two of the go-to methods for disposing of a whale carcass are hauling it back out to the ocean and leaving it to the elements, or burying it right there on the beach where it landed. Mr. Pearsall said the latter method was “quicker, safer and a little bit more polite” to the animal.
It is illegal, she said, for a person to come within 300 feet of a gray whale under federal law. The Marine Mammal Protection Act also states anyone who harasses or disturbs a gray whale could face civil or criminal charges. "We feel people do not mean to harm them, but they may inadvertently do so," Schramm said.
It is actually rare for a marine mammal to "drown," as they won't inhale underwater; but they do suffocate from a lack of air. Being born underwater can cause problems for newborn whale and dolphin calves. It is the touch of air on the skin which triggers that first, crucial breath.
The team also recently detected some 100 worms on an elephant seal carcass they sank, but it's not yet clear how much biodiversity such bones can sustain. Whereas smaller cetaceans' bones may decompose totally in three months, some whalebones may support fauna for 80 years.
Killer whales (or orcas) are powerful predators capable of killing leopard seals and great white sharks. They have also been recorded preying on usually terrestrial species such as moose swimming between islands. In the wild, there have been no fatal attacks on humans.
Whales are gentleThey are called gentle giants for a reason and it's wonderful that for the most part the interactions whales have with us humans are gentle, pleasant and always memorable. Most whale species, really only with the exception of orcas, are also gentle to each other.
While the veracity of the story is in question, it is physically possible for a sperm whale to swallow a human whole, as they have been known to swallow giant squid whole. However, such a person would drown or suffocate in the whale's stomach.
(Because sharks do not have swim bladders like other fish, when they die they do not float. They sink to the bottom.)
Despite a few exceptions, pinnipeds and cetaceans do not usually drink. In most cases, water is supplied by the metabolism of prey proteins (metabolic water) and the oxidation of fat (drinking water). In cetaceans, these waters may be sufficient to maintain a water balance in the body.
Necropsies showed the most significant factor in their deaths were starvation/emaciation. The 600 to 800 bottlenose dolphins that live in the IRL area do not extend outside their territory to feed. Prey normally found in the IRL may have shifted away or had been depleted due to large losses of sea grasses in the area.
Why do whales die? Cetaceans generally live long lives. The estimated life expectancy of a killer whale is 50-80 years, while larger baleen whales like humpback, fin, or blue whales may live 80-90 years. So called natural deaths, due to old age, for example, are thought to occur but little is known about such events.
A whale's eye has the same general anatomy as humans and other mammals. The cornea (front surface of the eye) and lens focus images of the world onto the retina in the back of the eye where photoreceptor cells, called rods and cones, convert light into signals that can be understood by the brain.
Whales do not catch colds, but they do get snotty blowholes. It is that time of year again: the air is chilly, your pockets are filled with tissues and every sneeze on the train makes you paranoid you will be next in line to catch a cold. We humans get snotty noses all the time.
The fact that whales' blows are warmer than the outside air allows the animals to be detected and tracked. Like fin whales, right whales appear to spend the night feeding at the surface. Their prey, copepods (small crustaceans), also rise to the surface when darkness arrives.
Feel the Skin!What does a baby gray whale's skin feel like? She is leaning over the boat to touch a baby gray whale in Laguna Ojo de Liebre, Mexico. The skin feels like smooth, slippery, wet rubber. The friendly baby whales seem to love being touched by eager guests who come to see them.
Pre-hunting population size may have been as many as 200,000-300,000 whales. They were estimated to number around 2,300 in 1998 and to be increasing between 2.4-8.4% per year. The IWC is undertaking an assessment of Antarctic blue whales at present.
Live (or recently-dead) whales or dolphins often come onto the shore because they are old, sick, injured and/or disorientated. Dead whales or dolphins washing ashore could be the result of natural mortality or human-induced death, such as suffocating in nets or even a collision with a boat.
Cetacean stranding, commonly known as beaching, is a phenomenon in which whales and dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die due to dehydration, collapsing under their own weight, or drowning when high tide covers the blowhole.
Breaching is when most or all of the whale's body leaves the water. Humpback whales can use their powerful fluke (or tail fin) to launch themselves out of the water. And while many other whale species breach, humpback whales seem to breach more frequently.
9. Call the the NOAA Marine Animal Entanglement Hotline at 1-800-900-3622 or 866-755-NOAA or hail the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16.
Cetacean stranding often leads to death due to dehydration. Whales have an incredibly thick layer of insulating blubber. Whales can also drown as the tide comes in because they are lying on their side and the water covers their blowhole before it's deep enough for them to swim free.
But strandings can also have other natural causes. Sometimes, smaller dolphins become beached because they have taken refuge from orcas and other predators in shallower waters or because they have ventured too far into shallow areas when hunting shoals of fish.
