Dozens of pilot whales die at notorious New Zealand beach.
More than two dozen whales died in a mass stranding at a New Zealand beach, wildlife rangers have said.
The Department of Conservation said 29 long-finned pilot whales were already dead when the pod of 34 marine mammals was found at remote Farewell Spit on the South Island late on Thursday.
The department said it was attempting to refloat the remaining five whales with the morning's high tide.
"The process can take some time and we may not know if it is successful or not for several hours," it said on its Facebook page.
Spokesman Dave Winterburn said rangers were providing care for the animals but noted "the whales have now been out of the water for some time".
"While this event is unfortunate, whale strandings are a natural phenomenon," he told the AFP news agency.
Project Jonah, a local whale rescue group, said that its medics were at Farewell Spit with the Department of Conservation.
"This is a stressful time for the whales after their time spent stranded yesterday and this morning, so close monitoring of their condition and responses in the water is key," the group wrote on Twitter.
Farewell Spit, is a 26 kilometre (16 mile) sliver of sand that extends into the Tasman Sea and creates intertidal sand flats that can extend across many kilometres.
It has seen more than 10 pilot whale strandings in the past 15 years.
The largest was in February 2017, when nearly 700 of the mammals beached, and 250 died.
Scientists are unclear on why the beach is so deadly. One theory is that the spit creates a shallow seabed in the bay that interferes with the whales' sonar navigation systems.
Pilot whales, which can grow to as many as six metres (20 feet) long, are the most common species of whale found in New Zealand waters.
SOURCE: AFP, AL JAZEERA
Reader Comments
We also have no idea how these beautiful animals manage to error so fatally.
Expert know it alls who can't even describe the human condition proposed the magnetic line theory.
The north pole is the north pole..its never moved..Ever
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the geographical North never moved, true, but the magnetic pole is at the moment located somewhere in Russia, and moving with about 44miles per year across our globe. and you can try to deny it as much as you want, the NOAA and a bunch of other professional institutions have confirmed this fact, and are readjusting their instruments every few month, so that airplanes land where they are meant to. and that whales navigate using magnetic field lines has been demonstrated in the 60ies and 70ies, like it or not, we know quite a bit about their lifes. oh, and btw, we humans posses some kind of magnetic sensory in some of our cells, too. but i guess, that is not true in your life, either. employing your handle, that is how i feel reading your response.
Or what about your appliances ?
Maybe they'll run backwards. Lol
Its a universal universe.
NOAA blah blah..They're govt..Do you trust them ?
Silly
As for names...grow up.
"Experts in radiation field proton globulization theory have proven using science that theories sometimes become facts when given media disseminational help and repetition, our findings prove that this phenomena has nothing to do with easily verifiable government behaviour but more likely is something so complex and unvarifyable that only trust in theoretical scientific woo can suffice, what we need is funding so we can try and crush our square peg into a round hole and show proof with internet links to more unvarifyable evidence which our government permissions allow."
Dominic Stateowned.