Whale bleacing - Indication of impending earthquake/ volcanoes
Q. As per a hypothesis, mass stranding of whales along the Tamil Nadu coast is an indication of- Published on 25 Jan 16a. Impending natural disaster
b. Global Warming
c. Shift in ocean current patterns
d. Destruction of whale habitats
ANSWER: Impending natural disaster
As per observations made by Dr Arunachalam Kumar for about 15 years, his hypothesis that cetaceans (whales and dolphins) get disoriented by shifts in the undersea tectonic plates: Their cerebral magnetic 'compass' that guides their migration and routes, gets disrupted weeks before the plates actually shift or subduct - hence their confusion, as they are unable to orient and the alignment goes awry - the disruption in their route map, manifests as stranding like the one recently seen in the south east coast of India. Stranding or beaching of large pods (more than 60) according to him precedes cataclysmic submarine events. Whales are sensitive to such events weeks earlier than they actually occur. Around two to four weeks after whale deaths and shore breaching, volcanoes, earthquakes on land masses or below the sea occur; If the submarine shift is large, then tsunamis could result. Many animals and birds possess a capacity to stick to known routes - homing pigeons are an example. They have an in-built magnetic radar that guides their path. Change in sub-oceanic magnetic activity is sensed by whales far earlier than other animals. Once stranded, they remain stranded - even pushing a few live ones back - will only bring them back ashore as they have lost their sense of direction and will move only where their cerebral compass tells them to go.
