Animals: Why Whales Die

Whales are mammals. They do not have gills but lungs, must breathe air in order to maintain life. Therefore a whale out of water is not, like a fish, deprived of a necessary element. When a school of dead whales was recently found on the Australian coast. Dr. William Alexander Osborne, dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Melbourne, put this question to his learned colleagues: "Why do stranded whales die?" From his learned colleagues, according to his report in Nature last week, he received the following answers:

1) "The blood now being acted on by gravity collects in the dependent parts and produces anemia of the brain." 2) "The weight of the body impedes breathing.'' 3) "Vital organs are crushed by the great weight." 4) "The unaccustomed warmth, especially if there is direct insolation [exposure to sun] induces heat stroke." 5) "The unaccustomed temperature interval between night and day gives rise to internal chills and probably pneumonia." 6) "The whales do not die because they are stranded; they are stranded because they are dying."