Why do whales strand on beaches?

Posted by Willie — 26 January 2016 at 1:19pm - Comments
Sperm whales washed up on skegness beach
All rights reserved. Credit: Lee Swift
Sperm whales washed up on a Skegness beach

Shocking and sad images have been all over the media in the past few days as some massive sperm whales have washed up dead on British beaches. Normally humans and these deep water leviathans live far apart, so it’s understandable that we are surprised and distraught to encounter them like this. But why does it happen? And what can you do?


In fact, when we do see them in shallow water, it’s usually followed by bad news. Every year hundreds of dead whales, dolphins and porpoises wash up dead on British beaches. Amongst them there are usually a few sperm whales. They’re obviously far more noticeable and remarkable than a dolphin, because of their massive size and rarity.

In the UK we have some amazing organisations looking after our sea life, and amazing scientists monitoring what’s going on.

That was really evident 10 years ago when the city of London had its own whale stranding, when they all came together to try and help.

This week it seems that a whole pod of sperm whales has somehow got stuck in the North Sea, and tragically died. Scientists will be checking the bodies to try and determine why, but there’s a good chance they won’t be able to definitively say. For deep sea whales like sperm whales there’s a pretty good chance that they have become ‘stuck’ in shallow waters and not been able to find food (they can also dehydrate this way, as the Thames’ whale did, because they get all of their water from the food they eat).



Of course not all whales getting into shallow water die, and sometimes a helping hand can make a huge difference - as the great work of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue team shows, or the recent efforts by Scottish fishermen to free a humpback whale.

So what should you do if you see whales or dolphins stranded on a beach or in shallow water?



About Willie


Twitter: @williemackenzie

Follow Greenpeace UK