February 9, 2016 - BRAHMAGIRI, INDIA - Days after dead whales were found near the coast in Odisha's Ganjam and
Kendrapara locale, another cadaver of whale was found from the coast
close Motagaon zone in Brahmagiri locale on Tuesday morning.
Prior this month, a cadaver of a whale measuring 33 feet long with a width of 12 feet was located at Podampetta coast in Ganjam area on February 3 while the corpse of another whale measuring 66 feet long was found at Chinchiri mouth at Rajnagar in Kendrapara locale on February 5.
A few days before this, a giant dead whale washed ashore at the Juhi beach in Mumbai.
Last month, carcasses of more than 60 whales were sighted along the coast in Tamil Nadu a month ago
Following the death of the whales, the State Environment and Forest
department has decided to apprise the Ministry of Forest and Environment
(MoEF) of the unusual death of the giant marine mammals. - The Samaya.
February 4, 2016 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.
Dead sperm whale washed ashore at Ganjam, India
The sight of dead body of a 35 feet long and 10 feet round sperm whale
washed ashore shocked locals on Tuesday near Kantiagada village that
under Ganjam block.
The whale is suspected to have died five days back.
Informing about the body that washed ashore, Khalikote Forest Ranger,
Dilip Kumar Martha, said, "We doubt that the whale died four or five
days back. Initial investigations suggest that the whale died after
being hit by a ship. The Odisha museum has also been informed about the
whale if they ever want to preserve it. If they don't, the whale will be
buried near the coast." - Iamin.
Blue whale rescued off Dapoli, India
The whale, weighing approximately 25 tonnes, was seemingly stranded
in the shallows during the night because of the high tide and was then
trapped in the sand.
Sightings of whales along the coastline of Maharashtra seem to
have become a common occurrence. Three days after a 45-feet-long Bryde's
Whale was found dead on the Juhu beach, another behemoth whale was
spotted around 200 km away from Mumbai.
A 40-feet-long blue whale was spotted stranded in the shallow waters of
Dapoli beach in Ratnagiri district by members of the Sahyadri Nisarg
Mitra on February 1,who successfully rescued it and sent it back into deeper seas.
According to the environmental group, on a chilly morning at around 6
am, a volunteer of the group saw the whale struggling to keep itself in
the waters, almost 100 metres from the shore.
The whale, weighing approximately 25 tonnes, was seemingly stranded in
the shallows during the night because of the high tide and was then
trapped in the sand.
"Immediately, the volunteer alerted other members of the group and we
informed the forest officials," Project Director, Mohan Upadhye from
Dapoli said. The distress call by the group was heeded by around 25 men
of the village, alongside a strong force of forest officials as well.
Upon reaching the spot, they saw that the whale stuck in the
sand. Efforts started to keep it in water, while a veterinarian checked
the mammal for any injury.
"The vet found that the whale was suffering from some infection, he
administered an injection and then the whale started beating water with
its tail," Upadhye added.
A herculean task involving watering the whale and checking its vitals was carried out for more than five hours.At
5 pm, during the high tide, the group brought two trawlers to tow the
whale back into deeper waters. They safely attached a thick rope to the
tail of the whale and started to tow it into the deep sea.
"The rope broke twice because of the sheer weight of the whale. However
on the third attempt, we were successful in putting it in deep waters," Upadhye told.
Swimmers untied the rope from the whale which gracefully dived in the Arabian Sea, before surfing up once. - DNA India.
Rare wild jaguar spotted living in U.S.
Researchers
in Arizona have released video showing jaguar living near Tucson. It is
thought to be the only living jaguar in the United States.
