Tasmania is famous for its beautiful scenery and pleasant climate, but almost every year a large number of whales are stranded here. According to statistics, in the past 80 years, there have been more than 300 whale 'collective suicide' tragedies here. In the words of the Australian media, Tasmania is like a recognized graveyard for whales. But scientists are still not sure why whales choose this place as their life destination, why the whales that have lived in the sea for generations suddenly rush to the beach in an unusual way, and are they really staging the tragedy of "collective suicide"?
It's about predation
While people lament the tragic death of whales, they are also puzzled by their unreasonable and eccentric behavior. The traditional view is that whales, in pursuit of food, inadvertently fall into the beach on the coast. But with the deepening of scientific research, scientists have come to many different conclusions. Scientists from the Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography in the United States have found that many sperm whales died of bone necrosis. Scientists believe that this may be due to the fact that they float to the surface too fast. Sperm whales can dive more than 3200 meters underwater to hunt. If they suddenly and quickly float to the shallow water, the nitrogen in the body fluid will gush out and form bubbles. If the bubbles tangle in the tissue and compress the nerve, it will block the capillaries and lead to hypoxia in the muscle. Sperm whales' suicide 'is likely to be the price they pay when they are looking for food.
Poisoned by the ship
High concentrations of tributyltin, triphenyltin and other organotin toxicants were detected in the dead animal carcasses by Japanese scholar Hirohito Iwata. These poisons come from the paint that shipping companies paint on the bottom of ships every year. He believes that whales or dolphins like to play along the ship's course. Their nervous system and internal organs are the first to bear the brunt. They are poisoned by organotin paint dissolved in water, and their ability to distinguish direction is destroyed, resulting in stranding and death.
Darren Middleton, an American marine biologist, found bleeding in the inner ears of the dead whales in the Bahamas. He believes that this is most likely due to the high-power sonar used by the U.S. Navy ships, resulting in the loss of directional ability of the whales. Solar activity interferes with whale positioning
After analyzing the collective suicide of about 300 whales off the coast of the Malvinas Islands in 1997, Argentine scholars believe that the intense activity of sunspots at that time caused the geomagnetic anomaly and the occurrence of 'geomagnetic storm', which destroyed the echo positioning system of the migrating whales and made them commit the 'directional' error.
A geobiologist in the United States has found that most of the suicide sites of whales are in areas with weak geomagnetic field. He believes that whales usually swim along the magnetic line of the geomagnetic field, while whales entering the abnormal area of the geomagnetic field often run aground on the beach before they react. In recent years, the suicides of whales and dolphins on the beach have been reported by the news media. Why did they die mysteriously? Scientists from all over the world have put forward various inferences and explanations through a lot of investigation and research. Although there is some truth in all kinds of arguments, there is no final conclusion on which is right or wrong. Shark raids say a whale washed up on an Australian beach a few years ago and died. Scholars in this country infer that the whales who used the coastal rocky terrain to avoid being encircled by sharks rushed to the beach in a hurry and died.
Noise impact says US scientists have found a series of whale mass suicides related to naval exercises. Therefore, it is considered that the noise from naval exercises or busy shipping seriously interferes with the direction discrimination function of the whale's echo location system, and makes it lose its direction, which leads to the tragedy of collective grounding.
According to the bug influence theory, British scientists dissected the corpses of suicide whales and found that there was a kind of bug in their ears, which was only 2.5cm long and lived in polluted sea water. It is believed that the bug made the echo positioning system of whales disordered and went to the beach.
According to the influence of geomagnetic anomalies, after analyzing the suicide of about 300 whales off the coast of the Malvinas Islands at the end of August 1997, Argentine scholars believe that the strong activity of sunspots at that time caused the geomagnetic anomalies and the occurrence of 'geomagnetic storm', which destroyed the echo positioning system of the migrating whales, thus making them on a 'dead end'. However, a geobiologist in the United States found that most of the suicide sites of whales were in areas with weak geomagnetic field. He believes that whales usually swim along the magnetic line of the geomagnetic field, while whales entering the abnormal area of the geomagnetic field often run aground to the shore before they react.
According to the theory of disease, whales and dolphins usually live in groups as a family unit, and the leading whale (or dolphin) who obtains the leader status through competition can enjoy endless authority in this family for life. When a virus invades the marine aquarium and causes a disease similar to human Alzheimer's disease, a group of loyal followers follow the sick and disoriented stupid leader to swim around in the ocean, accidentally rush to the beach and die. Although the explanation is reasonable, no one can tell exactly what the virus is.
Neuronakaya said that Japanese scholar Hirohito Iwata recently detected high concentrations of organic tin poisons such as tributyltin and triphenyltin, which are the most toxic substances dissolved in marine water, He believes that these poisons come from a large amount of organotin paint painted on the bottom of the ship every year to prevent shellfish, algae and other small organisms from living on the bottom of the ship. Whales or dolphins, who like to play along the ship's route, bear the brunt of being poisoned by organotin paint dissolved in water. After that, their nervous system and internal organs are seriously damaged, and their directional discrimination function is destroyed, resulting in stranding and death. Although the explanation is well founded, there are still various objections. Scientists from the marine antiscale research group of Rojas company in the United States have successfully developed and produced a kind of coating which is absolutely safe to the environment - "ocean 9" to replace organotin coating, which may reduce the occurrence of suicides of whales and dolphins.
According to the theory of comet influence, after consulting a large number of rich historical materials in ancient China, Chinese scholars found that the abnormal death of whales had been observed as early as the Han Dynasty. They also believed that it was closely related to comet activities in space, and that it was handed down in various forms. For example, in Huainanzi, it is mentioned twice that "the whale died and the comet came out." in astronomy training in volume 3 of the book, it is stated that "things move with each other, and this standard corresponds to each other. If the sun is seen in the sun, it will burn and set fire; if the moon is seen in the square, it will be water. The tiger roars and the valley wind blows, the Dragon raises and the scenery cloud belongs, the unicorn fights and the sun and moon eclipses, the whale dies and the comet comes out. Modern astronomical research has confirmed that comet is the most active period in recent years: in August 1993, comet swift Tuttle, which has a cycle of 130 years and triggered the Perseid meteor shower, passed the earth. On July 17-23, 1994, comet SUMEC levy 9 collided with Jupiter, the big brother of the nine planets in the solar system. In March 1996, comet SUMEC levy 9 collided with Jupiter, the big brother of the nine planets in the solar system, A bright, huge, bifurcated comet with a long period of 180 million kilometers (thousands to tens of thousands of years, inconclusive) - comet Baiwu comets to the earth, making a sensation all over the world; On March 9, 1997, there was a total solar eclipse in China. At the same time, hale BOPP, the brightest comet of the century with a cycle of more than 4000 years, passed the earth in March and April. Many people were lucky to witness the astronomical miracle of this once-in-a-lifetime eclipse comet. Shortly after that, a faint comet named Xinglong comet was discovered by Beijing Observatory on June 4. In November 1998, comet Temple Tuttle, which had a long-distance travel period of 33 years and caused the famous Leonid meteor shower, passed by the earth again. During this period, abnormal death of whales occurred frequently all over the world. Is this just a coincidence? According to the observation and explanation of the ancients and the research of modern science, there seems to be some internal and subtle relationship between the death of whales and the activity of comets. Then what is the internal mechanism? This is worthy of our in-depth discussion and serious study