Prompt Cast
The Mystery of Whale Strandings
TLDR Mass whale strandings, a phenomenon that has been reported for centuries, remain a mystery with ongoing debates on how to assist stranded whales and handle dead whales on the beach. Various factors such as social behavior, sonar disruptions, and humane euthanization methods play a role in understanding and managing whale strandings.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Whale strandings are still a mystery.
04:37
Whale strandings, especially mass strandings, are still a mystery and there is a lot of debate about how to help stranded whales and what to do with dead whales on the beach.
09:27
Mass whale strandings have been reported for as long as humans have been keeping records, and short-finned pilot whales are the most frequent strandies, often due to confusion or disorientation in shallow waters.
14:33
Whales are very social animals and there is a hypothesis that they allow themselves to become stranded because they are concerned about a member of their pod who has become stranded.
19:39
Sonar, both acute and chronic, as well as chronic underwater noise, can disrupt whales' ability to dive and rise quickly, leading to decompression sickness and strandings, which has led to restrictions on sonar exercises and underwater explosions around important whale habitats.
24:35
The most humane thing to do when a whale becomes beached is to euthanize it, as it is likely to be gravely injured and pushing it back out to sea could result in a prolonged death.
29:31
Scientists have developed a protocol using a sequence of four drugs, including medazolam, exalazine, and potassium chloride, administered with industrial-sized needles attached to garden sprayers, to euthanize stranded whales in a humane and safe manner.
34:20
There are various methods of euthanizing stranded whales, including shooting them with high-caliber bullets, using a modified anti-tank gun, or ex-anguinating them by cutting the major artery that connects the tail to its body.
39:04
Whale carcasses can be disposed of by burying them on the beach, taking them to a landfill, or towing them out to sea to create a temporary ecosystem, but it is illegal in the US to tow a whale that has been euthanized with barbiturates out to sea due to the risk of secondary toxicity.
43:19
The hosts receive an email from a listener asking if they remember an episode about a crazy doctor who got run out of multiple towns and lost his license multiple times, but they don't remember and ask for help from other listeners.
Categories:
Society & Culture
