Sri Lankan Beached Whales

Article Written by Ananya Nayar, Website edited by Misaki Tomiyama

Image by Peter van der Sluijs, is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

On the 3rd-9th November Sri Lanka rescued almost 120 stranded whales on the beach. The Sri Lankan navy, police, environmentalists and volunteers from nearby villages worked through the night to push the whales to deeper water so they could swim back. Three pilot whales and a dolphin died from injuries near Panadura, a few more whales also died after the tiredness of fighting to stay afloat on shallow waters, they didn’t have enough energy to push themselves back to the deeper sea. The Pilot whales beached themselves, and this was thought to be the biggest stranding in Sri Lanka. The short-finned pilot whales started coming ashore at Panadura, 25 kilometres south of Colombo, on Monday at midday.

Pilot whales travel in schools, and are social mammals because they travel in large communities with steady communication. Pilot whales grow up to 20 feet in length and can weigh up to 3,000 kilograms.