Another Sad Wildlife Story, Marine Edition

[btfc]

‘ Humpback whale left with broken spine after vessel strike makes her "last journey" – a 3,000-mile swim to Hawaii ‘


‘ A beloved humpback whale named Moon was left with a broken spine and completely unable to use her tail to propel her through the sea after being struck by a ship. But she's now on a mission of "tenacity & tragedy," having swum more than 3,000 miles from Canada to Hawaii in what experts believe is her "last journey" before she dies.

Researchers have known about Moon for years. Just two years ago, they saw her passing on traditions to her calf. But then this past September as she swam alone by the Fin Island Research Station in Northern British Columbia, they realized something was wrong – her spine was deformed.

From a bird's eye view, it was clear that she had been hit by a vessel, researchers said. Her spine, normally straight, now had a massive "s" shape running from her dorsal fin in the middle of her back to her fluke. The organization BC Whales said her "severe spinal injury" has left her unable to use her tail, which provides the up-and-down motion necessary to help her effortlessly swim through the ocean. ‘


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/moon-humpba...0aaa3b#app

[RAMd®d]

It happened, obviously, but I just can't fathom how.

What kind of vessel would it take to make that kind of damage, and how fast would it have to be going to take the whale unawares, close enough that it couldn't evade?

That makes this story worse, me thinking that it should have been an avoidable accident, at least on the whale's part.

Or that it was deliberate and the whale couldn't avoid it?

Even if a 'perfect storm' accidental collision, it's still sad.

[Ombligo]

Happens more often then you would think. Large tankers or cargo ships hit them. It isn't unusual for a ship to come into port with a dead whale plastered to the front.

I'm not going to post any photos but you can search for "Dead whale on ships bow" to several examples.

[kj]

Ombligo wrote:
Happens more often then you would think. Large tankers or cargo ships hit them. It isn't unusual for a ship to come into port with a dead whale plastered to the front.

I'm not going to post any photos but you can search for "Dead whale on ships bow" to several examples.

I've seen that too, it's terrible. Honestly, I think it's less understandable so many people get hit by cars than to believe whales get hit by ships. Ocean traffic has become ridiculous, and whales were never really meant to know how to avoid it all.

[Diana]

If you’ve ever been underwater and listened to the noise, you may realize that (a) it is quite noisy; (b) you can’t tell how close something may be; and © you can’t really tell what direction something may lay. Imagine that you use sound to navigate your world; it is becoming increasingly noisy and you can’t distinguish the direction it is coming from. Your eyesight may not be that sharp (after all you are underwater) and you are the biggest thing in the ocean so very few things (perhaps nothing) really are a threat to you. Now you have the problem of big ships that can cripple or even kill.

This is not surprising. Tragic, but hardly surprising.

[RAMd®d]

Imagine that you use sound to navigate your world; it is becoming increasingly noisy and you can’t distinguish the direction it is coming from.


Well, without a deep dive into whale physiology, and given that whales can apparently communicate for miles, and navigate by sonar, I'm still at a loss to accept this as a reason.

I've been underwater and heard sounds hundreds of yards away and not being a whale in any way, shape, or form, have to think they have an edge on humans.

But, that here are a lot of these collisions, I can't necessarily blame it on whale clumsiness or not looking both ways.

And no, I won't be searching for whale vs ship pics.