"Social" Whales

norseman · #1 23-05-2011, 09:36 AM

You furringers may have missed this story.
At the weekend, 60 Pilot Whales were found in a Scottish loch in shallow water. They defied all attempts to shepherd them into deep water where they normally live. Activists were afraid that the whales would beach themselves and several did show signs of injury from hitting rocks.
Yesterday, one whale was found, dead from an infection, on the beach and all the others had returned to deep water.
"It appears that what has been witnessed is a group of these extremely social creatures accompanying an ill individual ....... " Same behaviour as shown by elephants ? Seems like compassion is not an exclusively human behaviour

#2 23-05-2011, 10:24 AM

Hey Norseman, Yeah all the way over here it was on the news , albeit it briefly. All i was thinking was... hang on 60 whales 'might' beach themselves, ummm i think the whales might be more onto it than we humans.haha.

Normally we only find the whales once theyve been beached... personally i think it must have to do with submarines, or research boats with sonar radars in use. I have spoken with a guy who was on an oil boat, and he confirmed my belief , that yes if they see whales they are to stop.. but they rarely do.

Now that you mention the other one died due to an infection, maybe do you think the pod took the ill one into sheltered waters, to wait and see if he could recover ??

Whales are just so amazing .

Spiritlite · #3 24-05-2011, 02:56 AM

Wow I love Whales so so so much I mean I really love them. Such gentle, spiritual, loving, intelligent, kind, compassionate souls.
Spiritlite
Thanks for this story.

norseman · #4 24-05-2011, 09:54 AM

Update ! A second whale has been found, dead. There are still concerns because it appears that they headed into the Irish Sea, which is quite shallow, rather than out into the Atlantic.
Turns out the first dead whale was a female - possibly the matriarch of the pod ?

Silver · #5 24-05-2011, 09:58 AM

That is sad. So is that the size of a typical pod? Wow, so if that is the 'leader', they just feel lost w/o her?

norseman · #6 24-05-2011, 12:08 PM

Apparently, this behaviour is similar to an elephant family. They will always stay close to a dying family member too.

Spiritlite · #7 25-05-2011, 01:12 AM

Yes Elephants are also so soulful and yes they actually cry over a lost family member.........
Spiritlite.

Chrysaetos · #8 25-05-2011, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by norseman

"It appears that what has been witnessed is a group of these extremely social creatures accompanying an ill individual ....... " Same behaviour as shown by elephants ? Seems like compassion is not an exclusively human behaviour

Which is good news, isn't it?
The more animal species we find that have compassion, or self-awareness, or keen intelligence, or personalities.. the better!

norseman · #9 26-05-2011, 01:43 PM

Absolutely, Chrysaetos ! Anything to knock the human race down a peg or two in thinking we are "special", instead of just one of Mother Nature's children !

Spiritlite · #10 26-05-2011, 03:38 PM

I'm with the above two posts......... very nice to know that.
Spiritlite.
Then again I was watching a documentary of a man who had filmed a leapord her whole life and her only lion cub was killed by a snake. She knew where the snake was and literally hunted it for 12 hours and got the snake and killed it, I won't say what she did with her babies body. But for 2 weeks after her baby died, she did nothing, not eat, nothing, and wailed for her baby those two weeks, I was crying watching it and stunned by her compassion and her grief.
Spiritlite.