Fishing gear and an engine cover are just some of the startling contents found inside the stomachs of sperm whales that recently beached themselves on Germany’s North Sea coast.
The 13 sperm whales washed up near the German state of Schleswig-Holstein earlier this year, the latest in a series of whale strandings around the North Sea. So far, more than 30 sperm whales have been found beached since the start of the year in the U.K., the Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Germany.
After a necropsy of the whales in Germany, researchers found that four of the giant marine animals had large amounts of plastic waste in their stomachs. The garbage included a nearly 43-foot-long (13-meter-long) shrimp fishing net, a plastic car engine cover, and the remains of a plastic bucket, according to a press release from Wadden Sea National Park in Schleswig-Holstein.
However, “the marine litter did not directly cause the stranding,” says Ursula Siebert, head of the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, whose team examined the sperm whales.
Instead, the researchers suspect that the whales died because the animals accidentally ventured into shallow seas.
Male sperm whales normally migrate from their tropical or subtropical breeding grounds to colder waters at higher latitudes. The species is one of the deepest diving animals in the cetacean family, known to plummet as far as 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) in search of squid, its favorite food.
The beached whales were all young males between the ages of 10 and 15, and the necropsies revealed that they died of heart failure. The team believes this particular group mistakenly swam into the North Sea, a shallower zone in between the U.K. and Norway. There the whales could not support their own body weights, and their internal organs collapsed.
“It is thought that the sperm whales may have got lost and entered the North Sea (possibly chasing squid), where the sea floor is not deep enough, causing the whales to become disorientated and die,” Danny Groves, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), wrote in an email.
Ocean Mystery
According to the WDC, whales and dolphins may strand for many reasons, such as excessive noise pollution from ships and drilling surveys or even subtle shifts in Earth’s magnetic field. In addition, pilot whales that beached off the coast of Scotland three years ago showed high levels of toxins from ocean pollution, which scientists linked to stress on their brains that may have caused disorientation.
In this case, recent changes in local weather may also have played a role: “At the moment we believe that the most probable answer is that we had special conditions in the North Atlantic which may have influenced warm water and prey distribution and storm activities,” says Siebert.
For now, though, no one is sure why so many sperm whales are showing up around the North Sea.
“We may never know the exact cause,” writes Groves.
A sperm whale swims near the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.
Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic Creative
Siebert adds that if the whales had survived, the garbage in their guts might have caused digestive problems down the line. At the time of death, the animals were in decent shape and, in addition to the debris, the scientists found thousands of squid beaks in the whales’ stomachs.
But when whales and dolphins ingest lots of marine litter, either accidentally or because they mistake the trash for prey, it can cause physical damage to their digestive systems. The trash may eventually give the animals the sensation of being full and reduce their instinct to feed, leading to malnutrition.
While the garbage may not have been lethal for these whales, “the plastic debris in their stomachs is a horrible indictment of humans,” adds Hal Whitehead, a whale researcher at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, sperm whales were relentlessly hunted for their oil and blubber, a practice that went into decline by the close of the 1980s. The end of widespread commercial whaling helped the global population increase, but the whales clearly still face threats from ship collisions, fishing nets, and ocean pollution.
onlooker on Fri, 23rd Jun 2017 4:47 pm
Not killing the world, but the life on it including soon our own.
Midnight Oil on Fri, 23rd Jun 2017 5:56 pm
No SHt! 25 years ago I read the same from the publication “Speeches of the Day”…
Suppose humans have a one track purpose…
Like we weren’t warned!?
Go Speed Racer on Fri, 23rd Jun 2017 6:44 pm
What is this “WE” bull krap.
How about “YOU” are killing the earth.
I recycle all my trash. I recycle what’s lying around
too. I see a bottle or a pop can lying in the ditch
I grab it and recycle.
Ya don’t see me chucking old basketballs
Into the ocean to kill the whales.
Might be You, but it ain’t me.
makati1 on Fri, 23rd Jun 2017 7:59 pm
We have killed the world’s ecosystem. All we can do now is watch its death throes along with our own. Life will survive and in another few million years, another ecosystem will evolve but we will not be part of it.
deadlykillerbeaz on Fri, 23rd Jun 2017 7:59 pm
Wombats in Australia are suffering from wind turbine low frequency noise.
https://stopthesethings.com/2017/06/17/tasmanian-wombats-suffering-from-wind-turbine-noise-vibration/
Nobody cares about humans, they’re on their own.
Midnight Oil on Fri, 23rd Jun 2017 10:58 pm
Recycle…BS green washing feel good activity.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/if-recycling-doesnt-actually-help-planet-then-what-should-we-do
DerHundistlos on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 1:48 am
Racer X-
Keep on doing good. And it’s not just you, but people emulate the behavior of others so although you may not realize it, you are making a substantial difference.
I salute you, my friend!!!!!!
Go Speed Racer on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 6:21 am
Thanks DerHondaToast, I was just about to stop recycling forever. And I would throw Hefty bags of garbage into the ocean to kill dolphins. At least, that’s what Midgrade Oil is recommending, if he doesn’t want to recycle. Also, municipal waste incinerators are an excellent solution to garbage. If the plastic garbage was burnt up for energy, it wouldn’t be floating in the ocean for the whales to choke on. But The Libs are highly opposed to trash incineration, they go into rubber-room spasms against incineration, and the electricity it generates.
Midnight Oil on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 9:38 am
Too bad it ain’t so
Green Capitalism: The God That Failed
Thursday, January 09, 2014
By Richard Smith, Truthout | News Analysis
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/21060-green-capitalism-the-god-that-failed
This article, originally published January 9, 2014, shows why this patently phony delusion is, nonetheless, so attractive, and why “green capitalism” is a plan for the collapse of civilization and global ecological suicide.
The results are in: No amount of “green capitalism” will be able to ensure the profound changes we must urgently make to prevent the collapse of civilization from the catastrophic impacts of global warming.
The following is an updated version of an article that originally was published in the Real-World Economics Review. We consider Richard Smith’s article foundational to understanding the world we live in. Given its length, several sittings or a printout may be required to complete reading
Cloggie on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 1:51 pm
Climate Activists Block Coal Transhipment in Amsterdam Harbor
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2017/06/24/climate-activists-block-coal-transhipment-in-amsterdam-harbor/
DerHundistlos on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 3:51 pm
Midnight-
I acknowledge recycling has its flaws, but it also serves a purpose by engaging the public and increasing consciousness about the state of our environment.
DerHundistlos on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 3:54 pm
Racer X-
“rubber-room spasms”- I love this description. May I borrow from you?
Go Speed Racer on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 5:12 pm
OK…. sure…. an get your money’s worth, here is an image:
Figure it’s just another padded-cell-liberal, telling you its
not OK to burn trash and get energy out of it. Has to be
dumped into a landfill instead. Or dump into the ocean.
https://www.conservativereview.com/-/media/images/conservative-review/article-images/2017/june/man-sitting-with-legs-apart-in-padded-room-mental-asylum.jpg?h=675&w=1200&la=en&hash=78882ACD97AA3A26F18938F42AE591F5D0DA23C7
Apneaman on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 5:25 pm
Too much CO2 in the Atmosphere Caused a Mass Extinction. Sound Familiar?-Jun 23, 2017
http://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/17278/20170623/mass-extinction-triassic-jurassic-volcanic-eruption.htm
“… at the current rate CO2 will increase one hundred ppm in approximately 40 years. During past periods of abrupt change — the most recent one occurring approximately 50 million years ago — it took roughly a million years for CO2 to change by one hundred ppm. Thus it is now changing about 25,000 times faster than in known geologic history.”
http://www.johnenglander.net/co2-levels-and-mass-extinction-events/
“Oh, yeah / Oh, yeah / Everything Everything Everything gonna be alright this mornin'”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5IOou6qN1o
Go Speed Racer on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 5:31 pm
Sleep Apnea man, if ya like that Muddy Waters clip, ya better set down and watch ‘Cadillac Records’. it is an amazing true story about early rock an roll.
Go Speed Racer on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 5:32 pm
Well just this morning, no joke, I went to the scrap yard.
Closes at 11:30 AM on Saturdays… and recycled 275 pounds of steel today, along with 40 pounds of aluminum . All of it reclaimed from roadside dumping etc.
Still trying to understand why I should stop doing this.
Apneaman on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 7:34 pm
They will keep throwing money at the inevitable long after it was time to walk away – sunk cost mentality.
“Miami Beach’s Mayor Friday was showing New York City’s Mayor a massive pump station, part of a half billion dollar plan to deal with sea rise.”
“More than 250 mayors, the National Conference of Mayors, is holding its annual meeting at the Fontainebleau, on the water’s edge, with climate change topping their list of concerns.
“This is not about right, this is not about left, this is about going forward and doing the right thing,” said Levine.
President Donald Trump’s disavowal of global warming, and withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, leaves many of the mayors worried.
“I’m extremely concerned because we can do all that we can as cities, and we still aren’t going to be able to accomplish what we need to really move the needle on this issue,” said Mayor Patrick Wojahn of College Park, MD.
With carbon emissions spewing into the atmosphere, and seas rising along with pollution, many mayors feel they’ve been left twisting in an ill wind.”
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/06/23/mayors-meet-in-miami-beach-to-discuss-climate-change-immigration/
They are basing their “fighting” on the lowest SLR estimates, which are wrong by a mile. The reality is all their efforts will only buy a decade or so. By 2030 they’ll be many abandon coastal towns and cities.
Apneaman on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 7:43 pm
Just how hot?
Explore 150 years of global warming data in Switzerland
“Global warming naturally comes to mind as a topic for reflection while Switzerland swelters in a Europe-wide heatwave. To help inform our thinking about this, swissinfo.ch compiled more than 150 years of Swiss temperature data in graphics. It illustrates both the changing climate and hotter temperatures in Switzerland in recent decades.”
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/just-how-hot-_explore-150-years-of-global-warming-data-in-switzerland/43279510
Apparently AGW does not recognize that Swiss ‘neutrality.’
Apneaman on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 7:45 pm
Global warming blamed as summer skiing on Whistler glacier is cancelled for first time in 30 years
“… conditions on Whistler’s Horstman glacier had made it impossible to build a terrain park to an acceptable standard. As a result, the 2017 camp has been cancelled and all bookings are being refunded. He says Camp of Champions is filing for bankruptcy.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ski/news/shrinking-glacier-whistler-cancels-summer-ski-snowboard-camp/
Apneaman on Sat, 24th Jun 2017 7:53 pm
The World Is Burning
“ROME, Jun 23 2017 (IPS) – Record high temperatures are gripping much of the globe and more hot weather are to come. This implies more drought, more food insecurity, more famine and more massive human displacements.
In fact, extremely high May and June temperatures have broken records in parts of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the United States, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported, adding that the heat-waves have arrived unusually early.
At the same time, average global surface temperatures over land and sea are the second highest on record for the first five months of 2017, according to analyses by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Copernicus Climate Change Service.”
http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/06/the-world-is-burning/
Cloggie on Sun, 25th Jun 2017 4:19 am
Rejoice! The CO2-global warming problem has been solved.
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/prof-olaf-schuiling-has-a-solution-for-the-co2-problem/
Dredd on Sun, 25th Jun 2017 7:02 am
“We Are Killing the World”
Remember “We are the world” ?
____________________________________________ on Sun, 25th Jun 2017 10:45 pm
It’s not pigape’s fault. Sperm whales like to swallow. Those are some nasty cunts
____________________________________________ on Sun, 25th Jun 2017 10:46 pm
And apneafagupanus fuck ur global cooling