Over 160 cases where children have been shot in Gaza
Stephanie Hegarty, Global Population Correspondent for BBC News, reports
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The Irish Sun
13 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
‘Distressing' sight as rare deep-diving whale & calf wash up on Irish beach & experts probe ‘acoustic trauma' theory
The two whales became stranded and died on Kilcummin beach in Co Mayo SAD STORY 'Distressing' sight as rare deep-diving whale & calf wash up on Irish beach & experts probe 'acoustic trauma' theory A WHALE and her calf have died following a stranding on a Mayo beach, in what has been called a "very distressing incident" to witness. The True's beaked whale and her calf were seen swimming into shallow water at high tide on Kilcummin beach on 27 July. 3 Experts believe the whales died from acoustic trauma caused by human activity Credit: Cathy & Angela Kelly 3 The whale calf was found dead a few days after its mother Credit: Cathy & Angela Kelly Both animals beached themselves on the shore. The mother is believed to have died quickly; the calf, however, managed to refloat but was found dead a few days later. According to the CEO of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Dr Simon Berrow, similar incidents took place around the same time in the Netherlands and Orkney in Scotland. Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, he said: "When you put them all together, it could just be a coincidence, or it could indicate that something has happened. "Typically, when these deep-diving species live-strand, your first thought is it could be acoustic trauma." He explained: "This is generally associated with typically naval exercises because the navy - not the Irish navy – would use a thing called an 'active sonar', which is the same frequency as the whales use to communicate, and they're incredibly sensitive to these frequencies." These loud man-made sounds can cause significant harm to the whales and cause them to surface too fast, giving them the bends. According to Dr Berrow, nothing could have been done to save the whales after they became stranded. Notably, he said the stranding of these whales marks only the second confirmed sighting of True's beaked whales in Irish waters. Chilling moment killer whales practice DROWNING each other in horror 'training session' captured on film for first time True's beaked whales are deep divers, typically found at depths of over 800 metres, where they feed on deep-sea fish and squid. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group described the stranding as "a very distressing incident". The group said it is 'extremely grateful' to the members of the public who alerted the organisation. 'PARTICULARLY CONCERNING' In a statement regarding the incident, they said: "Live strandings of beaked whales are particularly concerning. "Unlike coastal dolphins, these animals are not suitable candidates for refloating due to the distance from their natural habitat, and the high likelihood of re-stranding." They added: "Multiple strandings of deep-diving species in different regions in a short time may indicate a shared acoustic event. "Two Sowerby's beaked whales also live stranded on Saturday in the Netherlands. "In the Netherlands, live-stranded beaked whales are typically euthanised, as the North Sea lies far outside their natural habitat." According to the organisation, four Northern bottlenose whales were also stranded in Orkney off the north coast of Scotland around that time. They added that while they "do not know if these events are linked" multiple strandings of deep-diving species in a short time frame "are always a cause for concern and close monitoring". An investigation is currently underway to identify the cause of these strandings.
RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
'Acoustic trauma' could have caused Mayo whale beaching
A True's beaked whale and her calf who became stranded and died in Co Mayo could have beached due to "acoustic trauma", according to the CEO of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group. Acoustic trauma can cause great harm to whales due to loud man-made sounds in the ocean, particularly when naval exercises make use of active sonar. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dr Simon Berrow, who is also a lecturer at Atlantic Technical University Galway, said the stranding in Kilcummin Back Strand on 27 July happened around the same time as similar incidents in the Netherlands and Orkney in Scotland. "When you put them all together, it could just be a coincidence, or it could indicate that something has happened. "Typically, when these deep-diving species live-strand, your first thought is it could be acoustic trauma," Dr Berrow said. He added: "These species are deep divers. They'll go down to 1,000 or 2,000 metres on every dive so they're designed to dive deep routinely. "And often they're getting washed up with signs of the bends, which is an incredibly unusual thing, so it tends to be attributed to acoustic trauma when the animal has surfaced too fast. "This is generally associated with typically naval exercises because the navy - not the Irish navy – would use a thing called an 'active sonar' which is the same frequency as the whales use to communicate and they're incredibly sensitive to these frequencies. "We're not saying that's the case but when you've an unusual event over a wide geographical range you kind of flag and think 'what's going on? Is this just a coincidence or a little bit indicative of something sinister going on'," Dr Berrow said. According to Dr Berrow, the stranding of the two True's beaked whales was only the second confirmed sighting in Irish waters ever, and the 20th stranding of that species in total since 1899. He said nothing at all could have been done to save the whales after they became stranded. "The logistics of refloating these whales are quite challenging, you need people, you need people who are trained, it can be quite dangerous." Dr Berrow added that while the calf refloated on its own, it was found dead a few days later. "It probably died fairly quickly and that's probably a good thing because with the adult mother dying the calf would have starved to death," he said. An investigation is under way to determine what happened to the whales. However, Dr Berrow is unsure whether it will get to the bottom of what happened due to the complexity of conducting the post-mortem and a lack of expertise in Ireland.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- RTÉ News
National Museum of Ireland refurbishment a 'huge amount' of work
The Keeper of Natural History at the National Museum of Ireland, Paolo Viscardi, has said the refurbishment of the museum's site in Dublin city centre will be slow going. The museum has been closed since September of last year in order to facilitate major refurbishment works. The Natural History Museum was built in 1856 and is often referred to as a 'museum in a museum'. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Viscardi said they have not got the building's plans as they may have been destroyed in the Customs House fire in during the War of Independence. The building, situated on Merrion Street, is almost 170 years old and needs "a huge amount" of work to make it fit for purpose into the future. "There's a huge amount that has to be done because it's never had any kind of major refurbishment before," Mr Viscardi said. He added: "It's a big job, doing the planning and understanding what we can do and what needs to be done, what the building requires because we don't know enough about it because we just don't have the information. "We're just about to undertake investigative works in the space so that'll be starting next week. "At the moment, it's not a great space for a museum. It's a wonderful, beautiful building, we love it, and historically it has huge, huge significance and we don't want to lose that," he said. While the Dead Zoo is undergoing the refurbishment, the Natural History Museum will be opening a 'Dead Zoo Lab' at the National Museum, at Collins Barracks. Mr Viscardi said the museum will be "experimenting" with its exhibits to see what appeals to visitors before the move back to Merrion Street. "We tried to get a good selection of the really popular objects from Merrion Street," he said. "So we have things like Spoticus the giraffe, we've got out giant Irish deer and we've even been able to get out some specimens that haven't been on display for quite some time."
