Loyalty to the pod has been identified by scientists as the cause of a mass stranding and death of 55 whales on the Isle of Lewis almost three years ago.
As The Guardian reports, the Scottish government’s Marine Directorate has said that the long-finned pilot whales were following a female in the middle of a difficult birth when all 55 stranded on Tràigh Mhòr beach, Tolsta on Lewis in 2023.
The report By the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) cites “a convergence of biological, behavioural and environmental factors".
SMASS lead scientist Dr Andrew Brownlow said that the Tolsta event is “a reminder that mass strandings are rarely the result of a single cause. Rather, they emerge at the intersection of individual physiology, group social behaviour and external marine environmental conditions”.
“Understanding how these factors interact is essential if we are to improve our capacity to anticipate, interpret and, where possible, mitigate the impacts of a changing ocean,” he said.
The pod was seen close to the shore before stranding, and this behaviour could be a key to survival offshore as a means of defence from predators, according to Brownlow.
“If a member of the pod was in distress, this species’ well-documented social cohesion would have led others to aggregate closely in a protective response,” he said.
When they were unable to return to sea, the whales were euthanised to prevent them from suffering further distress.
The organisation’s long-term monitoring data indicates that mass strandings of whales and dolphins in Scottish waters have increased in scale and frequency by up to 300 per cent in the past 30 years.
Read The Guardian here
