New research suggests that vocal fry among toothed whales is what gives them the ability to echolocate, hunting down their prey with the loudest sounds produced by any animal on the planet.
A recent stranding on remote New Zealand islands left nearly 500 pilot whales dead. Scientists still don't know for sure why the events, also known as beachings, occur, but they have some ideas.
The whales beached themselves on the Chatham Islands, about 500 miles east of New Zealand's main islands. None of the whales could be refloated and all either died naturally or were euthanized.
The whales were found stranded on the remote west coast of Australia's island state of Tasmania. A marine biologist said the dead animals would be tested for toxins that might explain the disaster.
A stranded whale pod on Tasmania's west coast appears to be pilot whales and at least half are presumed to still be alive, local government officials said Wednesday.
Australian wildlife authorities are investigating the deaths of the whales, which were discovered Monday on Tasmania's King Island, off the southeastern coast.
Another six people who had been on the boat off New Zealand were rescued. A local mayor says the water was dead calm and the assumption was that a whale had surfaced from beneath the boat.
A veterinarian said that during the rescue operation, the dangerously thin white mammal began to have breathing difficulties, and so experts decided to humanely euthanize the creature.
Lolita was captured five decades ago in the Puget Sound. Animal rights activists say she's the oldest orca in captivity and should live her final years back home in a seaside sanctuary.
Whale Week is underway in Savannah, Ga., from Nov. 15 through Nov. 21, 2021. Each year between November and April, endangered North Atlantic right whales, Georgia's official state marine mammal, migrate to the Southeast's warmer waters to calve. All Things Considered host Rickey Bevington talks to Paulita Bennett-Martin, a co-founder of Whale Week.
