© Tony Ashby/Stringer/Getty ImagesA whale rescue effort in Perth, Western Australia, in 2009. Research suggests multiple causes behind strandings.
In June 2015,
337 dead whales were found in a fjord in Chilean Patagonia. It was quickly declared one of the largest whale stranding events known to science.
Researchers suggested a recent explosion of toxic red algae could be behind the mysterious phenomenon, but they couldn't say for sure.
The following year,
more than 80 short-finned pilot whales beached themselves on the coast of the Bay of Bengal in India, seemingly unable to navigate away from the shoreline.
When rescuers managed to move 36 of them back to sea, they appeared disoriented, and struggled to rejoin their pod. Some even found their way back to the beach and stranded themselves once more.
And in February 2017, in what has become
one of the biggest mass stranding events in New Zealand history, 416 pilot whales beached themselves on the South Island's Farewell Spit beach, followed by roughly 240 more that ran aground between the settlements of Puponga and Pakawau. This time, many of them were refloated.
Potential explanations abound, including solar storms, military sonar, and even
the Moon's gravitational pull, but what's become increasingly clear each time is that no one really knows what's going on.
And that's not necessarily a bad thing, according to
Mark Hindell, professor of marine science at the University of Tasmania in Australia.
Comment: Looking at the image above of the snowy road conditions, it seems unlikely that any vehicle was traveling at any great velocity on the day of the incident. Starlings, well-known for their speed and aerial maneuverability would (one can reasonably argue) normally easily avoid any collision as suggested in this report ( even if the vehicles were moving at normal speed) unless their ability to fly was impaired or were disoriented by some unknown environmental factor.
There have been a sizeable number of similar mysterious incidents in recent years, here's just a small sample of such reports:- Dozens of blood-soaked starlings found scattered along road in Bad Wildungen, Germany
Starlings fall to the ground along motorway near Vienna, Austria
Dozens of dead and dying starlings found on road in Wichita, Kansas
Flock of dead starlings falls out of sky in Bolton, England after 'loud bang' heard overhead
Double deja vu on December 31st? Up to 300 starlings litter roadway and fields in Seymour, Tennessee
Scientists baffled by over 100 dead starlings in Missouri
Grisly Mystery After Scores of Starlings Fall Out of the Sky and Lie Dying...in a SINGLE Front Garden