A stranded sperm whale
In the early morning of April 19, 2022, on the shore of Xiangshan Mountain in Ningbo, the tide "rushed" on the coast and slowly receded, and the figure of a huge water elf gradually emerged from the sea, which meant one thing: it ran aground. This is very dangerous, and if it is not rescued in time, its life will be greatly threatened.
Fortunately, the local fishermen quickly spotted it and quickly realized that it was in danger, so they immediately called for help. Soon, rescue personnel from fire, fishery administration, public security and other departments rushed to the scene and launched rescue operations with local fishermen. At the same time, the news of the sperm whale stranding spread rapidly on the Internet, touching the hearts of many people.
After the rescuers arrived, they determined that the stranding was an adult male sperm whale, a national first-class protected animal, with a body length of about 19 meters and a weight of about 70 tons, which is almost the limit of the size of the sperm whale. In addition, the sperm whale had multiple wounds on its body.
At this point, the first priority should be to send the sperm whale back into the sea, but this is extremely difficult to do. The sperm whale ran aground in a tidal flat that would trap people when they stepped on it, making it difficult to use large instruments. Moreover, by this time the tide had receded, and coupled with the huge size of the sperm whale, rescuers really could not immediately send it into the sea. Time passed slowly, and by 3 p.m., the tide had completely receded and the sperm whale was completely exposed to the sun.
In this case, the rescuer can only use all means to maintain its life. For example, clean its wounds, apply medicine, dig a pit next to it to store water, cover its body with a quilt to moisturize it, and constantly pour water on it with a bucket of water to moisturize it. However, the sperm whale's condition continued to deteriorate, and later even genital prolapse occurred, leading rescuers to suspect that it had died.
It was more than nine o'clock in the evening, the tide was finally rising, and the opportunity to send the sperm whale back into the sea arrived. Rescuers tied its tail with ropes, and two boats escorted it, two boats responsible for towing, with the help of the tide, began to slowly take the sperm whale away from the shallow waters. By about 10 p.m., the rescue vessel had driven about 5 nautical miles, by which time the sperm whale had begun to wag its tail and turn over.
At 10 o'clock, the rescue ship finally took the sperm whale to a depth of 8.5 meters, and continued to sail farther into the sea. It wasn't until around 5:30 a.m. on April 20 that rescue vessels finally dragged the sperm whale to a depth of 28 meters. After the rescuers untied the rope, the sperm whale swung its tail and rolled over next to the rescue ship, as if to thank the rescuers. The morning sun was dyed rose red by the morning sun, and the sea surface was plated with the same red, and the sperm whale finally regained its life and swam away.
When the good news came, netizens put their hearts at ease, wishing this sperm whale good luck and hoping that it would be safe in the future and would not be stranded again. However, relevant experts said in the interview that this is only a stage victory. According to experts, during the stranding, the sperm whale's organs may be oppressed and cause irreversible damage, so it is necessary to keep observations afterwards.
In fact, this is not the first time this has happened. As early as the Qing Dynasty, Rudong County, Jiangsu Province, already had similar records of whale stranding deaths. After entering the 20th century, such things continue to happen. For example, on March 16, 2012, four sperm whales about 18 meters long ran aground on a beach in Binhai County, Yancheng, and two of them were still alive when fishermen found them. However, these sperm whales are too big. Several rescue programs were implemented, but all failed. The next day, all of these sperm whales died.
In addition, on February 14, 2016, a stranded sperm whale with a body length of about 16 meters was found on a beach in Rudong County, Jiangsu Province, and it was dead when it was found. Moreover, these are not all records.
There are many stranded sperm whales, but before the sperm whales in Xiangshan, Ningbo, the successful rescue of stranded sperm whales is difficult to find. For sperm whales, once stranded, the situation is very dangerous. The sperm whale in Xiangshan, Ningbo, was able to return to the ocean after about 21 hours of stranding, thanks to the efforts of rescuers and its own strength.
The reason for the stranding of sperm whales
Among mammals, sperm whales have very strong diving ability, can dive to a depth of 2200 meters, and some can even dive to waters below 3000 meters, often living in the sea of more than 1000 meters underwater. So why do sperm whales run aground near shore?
So far, there is no clear explanation for this problem, but scientists have made a series of speculations, and then we will understand some of the speculations made by scientists.
Topography:
Cetaceans are notoriously not dependent on their eyes to discern directions. When discerning directions, cetaceans emit ultrasonic waves with a wide range of frequencies. After encountering an obstacle, the ultrasound will reflect back and form an echo, and the cetaceans can judge how far the obstacle is from them based on the round-trip time of the ultrasound. And, scientists have noticed, cetacean strandings often happen on shores with gentle slopes. Therefore, scientists suspect that when cetaceans emit ultrasonic waves to the gently sloped coast, because of their topography, the echoes obtained by the cetaceans are distorted, which will make the cetaceans unable to judge the location of the deep water, resulting in stranding. However, recent studies have shown that a gently sloped coast does not cause echo confusion, so topographic theory is not very convincing.
Feeding Theory:
Sperm whales mainly feed on large squid and octopus, but also like to eat cod, perch and other fish. Scientists speculate that the cetaceans may follow their prey to swim nearshore, unfortunately encountering low tide, which eventually leads to stranding.
Disease Theory:
Like other creatures, cetaceans suffer from a variety of diseases. According to scientists' studies of stranded cetaceans, they will be infected by various bacteria, suffer from tumors, stomach ulcers, kidney stones and other diseases, and also be plagued by parasites. The parasite can cause cetacean arteriosclerosis, lung infections, and may even damage the skull. Cetaceans plagued by these diseases may be swept ashore by the currents of water, or deliberately swim near the shore to facilitate breathing, avoiding drowning if they cannot breathe.
Aberration Theory:
Some believe that cetacean strandings are the result of their hasty escape from unexpected stimuli, or by predators or human influences. That is, the cetaceans are in danger, or are stimulated by certain stimuli, or are disturbed by external disturbances, and swim near shore, causing them to run aground.
Rescue Theory:
If there are more than 1 cetacean stranded, they may have been stranded to rescue their companions. Cetaceans have a habit of rescuing each other, and if one whale runs aground and sends a distress signal, then other cetaceans will rush to rescue it, and the end result may be that these cetaceans are stranded.
Although scientists have come up with so many inferences, there is still no clear scientific explanation. More and more in-depth research is needed on the causes of the stranding of cetaceans, and perhaps these studies can be used to protect cetaceans in the future.
Resources
1. Zhu Qian, Jiang Bo, Tang Tingyao, Cetacean Stranding and Its Causes[J], Marine Science, 2000 (CNKI)
2. Zhang Shanyu; Hao Senxiao; He Renfeng, Guarding the National Treasure Sperm Whale[J], People's Public Security, 2016 (CNKI)
3. Liu Hui, Why Whales Run Aground[J], Fang Yuan, 2020 (CNKI)
Author: Reed Review: Henna Proofreader: Plum