Thirty false killer whales beached in Thailand

 phuket_album_large_432745.jpg ( 21.16K ) Number of downloads: 24
photo from different website (not in English)

Thirty false killer whales swam ashore on a beach near the Thai resort isle of Phuket, but local residents and hotel staff saved all but one of them, a marine official said.

The whales, which were up to 4.2 metres long, beached on Racha Island in the Andaman Sea, said Wannakiat Thubthimsang, director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre.

Residents and hotel staff rushed out to carry them back into the rough seas, he said.

Ten whales had to be loaded onto trucks and carried to another beach less than a kilometre away, where calmer waters made it easier to return them to sea, he added.

"One of them died from shock," Mr Wannakiat said.

Scientists were not sure why the whales swam themselves ashore.

"They may have run aground because of the strong wave, or they could have been misled by their leader's sonar signal," he said.

"It's not the first time this has happened, but this is a very large number."

False killer whales are not a threatened species. They are much smaller and less aggressive than their distant relatives, the orca, or killer whale.

Like orcas, scientists classify them as dolphins rather than whales. They are social creatures and are known for stranding themselves.

---ABC/AFP NEWS

Disoriented dolphins beach on Koh Racha

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Volunteers worked late into the night to move the surviving false killer whales to calmer waters, where they were released.

KOH RACHA YAI: Researchers at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) are today examining the remains of a False Killer Whale that was one of some 20 that beached on Koh Racha Yai, some 25 kilometers south of Phuket, late yesterday afternoon.

Local hotel staff and tourists rescued another 10 beached animals that could not make their way back to deeper water on their own.

False Killer Whales are large “open-ocean dolphins” known to attack and kill other cetaceans with their distinctive array of 44 teeth.

PMBC biologist Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong told the Gazette that about 40 dolphins were spotted about 5 pm in the shallow waters off Ao Paktok, where 11 of them later beached.

“Almost all the whales that came ashore were three to four meters long. The longest was 4.2m,” K. Kongkiat said.

As most of the whales appeared healthy, it was very unlikely that the mass beaching was the result of illness, he added.

“They are social animals that live in large groups and all members obediently follow their leader, so if the leader beaches the others follow,” he said.

The animal that died was a 2.8m female, probably about 10 years old, he added.

“The animal went into shock and we couldn’t save her. There were no visible signs of illness. We will do an autopsy this afternoon,” he said earlier today.

K. Kongkiat said the leader may have become confused trying to negotiate a narrow channel and found itself unable to return to deeper water due to big waves and strong onshore currents.

The 10 stranded dolphins were taken by truck to the relatively calm waters of Ao Teua on the other side of the island, where they were given injections to prevent infection and released around midnight.

“After their release they seemed to gain strength. That was the last time we saw them, though we continued to patrol the shoreline by boat,” K. Kongkiat said.

False Killer Whales typically live for about 50 years and are seldom spotted close to the shoreline, he added.

There is a healthy population of the dolphins in the Indian Ocean and they can be seen off the coasts of Burma and Bangladesh, as well as Thailand, K. Kongkiat explained..

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists False Killer Whales’ conservation status as “least concern”.

---Phuket Gazette

LaoPo

Oh no... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

"They may have run aground because of the strong wave, or they could have been misled by their leader's sonar signal," he said.

most likely, although i do believe other underwater 'noise' can also disorientate these mammals..

very sad

I think it's pretty amazing and commendable that these people would know what to do and could get it done.
Loading them on trucks and everything and I don't know who that scientist is but how'd she get out there so quick?

I mean can you imagine being at the beach and all of a sudden a dozen or so whales wash up on shore? Alive?
Would you know what to do?

Good job folks. and Thanks.

i agree fiddlehead. what a commendable job by the volunteers.

well done to all of you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/WPFflags.gif) This is Thailand too. The unexpected things... Great job done !! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap2.gif)

Could have been chasing prey into the shallows and got caught by a changing tide.

Q. what do you get if you cross a False Killer Whale and a Bottlenose Dolphin ?

A. a Wolphin

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

That's amazing indeed !

 Baby_wolphin_by_pinhole.jpeg ( 1.37MB ) Number of downloads: 4
The 9-month-old wholphin Kawili'Kai in September 2005

LaoPo

report of events from 'Andaman News'



edit - also, a rather distressing & uncomfortable to watch video can be seen here. This one taken at the scene as the mammals lay beached on the sand.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

This post has been edited by Goshawk: 2008-06-29 07:22:50

Yes and there is sonar sightings going on right now in Phuket waters . Also weren there not just USA boys having their war games again where they pretend they need to kill other people to justify massive defense spending?

Usually navy boys have some powerful sonar toys that they like to kill marine life with to prove they have penis's- so tuff!

second thread where you post phallic innuendo......

Maybe check out the gay forum