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An estimated 145 long - fin pilot whale ( Globicephala melas ) mysteriously stranded on a removed beach in New Zealand over the weekend , and none of the piteous brute go .
A backcountry tramper attain the maroon giant at Mason Bay on Stewart Island / Rakiura , a rugged island 19 knot ( 30 kilometers ) south of New Zealand ’s southerly island . The hiker then trekked to a nearby New Zealand Department of Conservation ( DOC ) athletic field office to report the finding , harmonise to a statement released today ( Nov. 26 ) fromNew Zealand ’s DOC .
More than 140 long-finned pilot whales washed ashore in New Zealand.
But by the meter authorities reach the struggling heavyweight , nearly half were already idle . The other one-half were in such bad human body that expert make up one’s mind to euthanize them . [ See Photos of Whales and Sharks from Above ]
" The remote location , deficiency of nearby personnel office and the whales ' drop condition meant the most humane affair to do was to euthanize , " Ren Leppens , the Rakiura military operation manager , say in the statement . " However , it’salways a grievous decisionto make . "
Multiple maritime mammal strandings also occurred on other New Zealand beaches over the weekend : 10 pygmy whales , asperm whaleand a dead pigmy sperm whale . But DOC authorities trust the events were unrelated . The sperm hulk and two of the pygmy whales died , the DOC account . Rescuers are ferment to make unnecessary the remaining eightpygmy heavyweight .
An aerial view of the stranded pilot whales. It’s not that unusual for pilot whales to strand in such large numbers.
Pilot giant are one of the large appendage of the dolphin family , 2nd only to the killer whale in size , according to theAmerican cetaceous Society(ACS ) .
Short - finned ( Globicephala macrorhynchus ) and long - fin pilot whales look almost indistinguishable when ensure in the wild , but the two species differ in fin length , tooth count and skull physique . The short - fin are receive in subtropical and tropic area , while the long - fin are retrieve in the higher latitudes of both hemispheres , agree to the ACS .
Long - finned pilot whales are the most common pilot whale specie in the H2O around New Zealand , according to theDOC .
Both species of pilot whales are very social and travel in groups of 20 to 90 individuals , according to the ACS , and it’snot unusual for the large radical to maroon together . The largest document stranding of pilot whales happened in 1918 and included an judge 1,000 whales at the Chatham Islands , 497 miles ( 800 klick ) E of the South Island of New Zealand , agree to the DOC .
But why the hulk expose this deadly behaviorremains a mysteryto scientists .
The most agreed - upon hypothesis is that thewhales ' echolocationisn’t as effective in shallow , dear - shore waters as it is in the steep areas at the sharpness of the continental ledge , according to the DOC . Like other cetaceans , pilot whales apply echolocation to find their fair game ( pilot film heavyweight eat in the first place squid , but also octopus , cuttlefish and small Pisces , such as herring ) . It ’s potential that when the whales ' take after their quarry closer to shoring , the whale become disorient and are unable to find their way back to seabefore beaching themselves .
Another theory involve that the whales ' societal tendencies mean that when one giant washes ashore , others follow to help out , only to tragically get stuck themselves . It could also be a combination of factors that causes the animals to ground , but those cause remain unknown .
The position of regional pilot heavyweight populations is unclear , but theInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources(IUCN ) categorizes long - finned pilot giant as a species of least business concern , and the ACS estimation there are almost a million long - finned pilot whales worldwide .
The DOC said that it ’s working with officials from the local Ngāi Tahu kin group to find what further legal action are necessary in response to this most recent stranding .
Originally write onLive Science .
