David Defranza
Blog Entry By: Matt Bernanke
Summary
On a small beach in New Zealand, 80 Pilot Whales are lying on the shore. The whales are stranded and conservationalists and volunteers are doing all that they can to keep these whale alive. Severe wind and water conditions prevent them from pushing the whales back into the saftey of the water. Until the harsh conditions pass, the whales will be moved to a small protected inlet a little way down the beach. Unfortuanately for some of the whales the wait to be relocated was too long. Only 24 whale were able to be moved to the inlet safely. About 25 whales wer dead by the time researchers arrived and 15 died after they arrived. Being a very social species of whale, the Pilot whales usually tend to try to help stranded members of their pod, which leads to beachings. Less than a month ago, 50 whales were stranded near the New Zealand beach and in 2007, 101 whales were stranded on the very same beach. Scientists are unsure of what causes the strandings to be so high in numbers.
Response
I feel very bad about what is happening to this certain species of whales. They just try to help their podmates and end up stranded and sometimes dead as a result. It is very disturbing that, the waves and wind prevetn their return to the ocean. The very thing that keeps them alive is causing a lot of their deaths. I wonder why there are so many whales that tend to get stranded as opposed to just one or two.
Questions
1) Why do you think that their are such high numbers of stranded whales when this occurs?
2) How else do you think conservationalists and scientists could help the whales.
3)How will the death of these whales affect the other organisms in the biome where they live?
I think it is a shame how many whales are being stranded on these beaches. It stinks that when the whales try to help thier podmates they end up being stranded too. I think they really need to help these whales get back into the water so they don't go extinct.
ReplyDelete1. I think there is such high numbers stranded on the beach because the whales try to help their podmates. The more whales that try to help their podmates, the more whales that have a chance to become stranded.
It is horrible that so many whales are dying. Especially in that particular spot. You would think that scientists would study the area thorougly to see what is causing the whales to die in that beach. I think that there should be a team to save the whales or be on whale patrol to make sure there are no whales ashore.
ReplyDelete1. There could be a number of reasons the whales are ashore. They could be hunting food and wind up in too shallow water. Or they could be caught in a current and be washed ahore. I hope that they find a way to save the pilot whales.
I still can't believe that unimaginable pilot whales have died because they tried to help one another. I think we could of saved them faster if we had patrols like Katie said and if there was a bigger vehicle. If the scientist knew that the whales were there a month before, shouldn't they have been there? They knew the whales got stranded before so they should have assigned few people to assure it doesn't happen again.
ReplyDelete3) The death of these pilot whales affect the other organisms in the biome where they live. The pilot whales affect them because the pilot whales' diet of organisms will decrease so the organisms' population will increase. Also, if the pilot whales' population were to decrease, the organisms that consumes it will decrease or it will have to consume a different prey, which will decrease the other organisms population.
It's too sad to hear that another species are being killed. Also because one of the reasons is that there was a human impact; beaching. It's not fair for the Pilot whales to be unable to go back to their homes because of the severe winds and harsh wave conditions. It's the only way they can live and if the nature is not helping them, then I don't know if they will even survive. A lot of our blog posts were about marine animals being threatened, and it's sad to know again there are other marine animals being killed. I'm not sure if the conservationalists and other scientists are doing their best to save these Pilot whales. I hope that they study and research more to find a solution and I would like to help if there was any way.
ReplyDelete3. The biome would be affected because the Pilot whales could have been the food source for some animals. Also some animals in the sea might have rode on the backs of Pilot whales as they swam through the ocean, and if they die then there wouldn't be a way for microscopic animals to travel. It would affect the whole food chain in the sea and then it will eventually affect the whole ecosystems and affect us humans too who eat seafood.