Beached whale

A beached whale is a whale which has become stranded on land, usually on a beach. Beaching is often fatal for whales, as they become dehydrated and die. Humans sometimes try to save beached whales; however, such efforts are not always successful. After a beached whale dies, they can become sources of disease and pollution; as they are very large, such corpses are difficult to move — in one cases humans tried to blow up the carcass with explosives, with predictable side effects to spectators.

The cause of beaching is not definitely known; but, there is some evidence that anti-submarine warfare sonar and other underwater noises (such as those emitted from oil drills) are of a sufficient intensity to cause the whales to surface too rapidly -- the whales then suffer haemorrhaging and decompression sickness, due to rapid pressure change.

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