FATAL BEACHING
Horrifying footage shows 130 dolphins dead on West African beach in mysterious mass stranding event
OVER 130 dolphins have died in an unexplained mass stranding event on an island off the coast of West Africa.
Experts are are still trying to work out what could have caused the tragedy.
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Around 163 melon-headed dolphins were found washed up on the island of Boa Vista by locals and tourists.
Hundreds of volunteers tried to drag them all back into the ocean.
However, lots of the marine mammals decided to swim back to shore where they ultimately died.
Less than 20% of the struggling pod survived.
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Bulldozers have now buried 136 dolphins that died but experts are still struggling to work out what caused this suicidal behaviour.
BIOS Cape Verde, a volunteer environmental association, : "To determine the cause of this phenomenon, veterinarians from the Institute of Animal Health (IUSA) of the University of Las Palmas, Gran Canarias, will travel to Boa Vista in the coming weeks to perform a necropsy, which will also serve to train local technicians in the subject."
Samples have been taken from 50 of the dolphins and four of the carcasses have been frozen.
These samples should help to aid in the researchers in determining the health of the creatures.
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There can be several reasons why sea creatures strand themselves.
Potential factors include weather conditions, diseases, parasites, magnetic field anomalies, underwater noise, seaquakes and unfamiliar waters.
Dolphin facts
Here's what you need to know about the cute creatures...
- Dolphins are small toothed aquatic mammals and there are currently almost 40 different species of them
- There are 36 dolphin species, which can be found in every ocean but there are a few of them that live in freshwater streams and rivers like the South Asian river dolphin and the Amazon river dolphin
- Despite their name, Killer Whales are actually the largest kind of dolphin and can grow up to 30 feet long
- Sometimes Killer Whales prey upon other dolphins
- Common dolphins mostly eat fish and squid
- They use echolocation to navigate the ocean and find prey, which involves creating sound waves to bounce off objects so they can work out things like size and distance
- An echolocating dolphin can make up to 1,000 clicking noises per second
- They are very sociable, playful animals and are constantly commincating with each other
- They normally live in pods of around 12 but can form a 'megapod' with other nearby dolphins in rare situations, such as if they are avoiding predators
- We don't know for certain how long the average dolphin lifespan is but female bottlenose dolphins have been known to live for more than 60 years and females tend to outlive males
- Dolphins can reach speeds of more than 18 miles an hour and often like to swim alongside boats
TOP STORIES IN SCIENCE
In other animal news, illegal fishing for the 'cocaine of the sea' totoaba fish could be about to result in the extinction of the world's smallest whale.
Fish feel pain in a "strikingly similar" way to mammals including humans, according to a new study.
And a mystery Antarctic fish "like nothing seen before" has been hauled up from the deep ocean.
Do you have any theories on why the dolphins may have stranded? Let us know in the comments...
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