# Latest on suicidal beaching theory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833 "2005-11-07T00:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/1 "2005-11-07T00:01:12Z")
Perusing the [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beached_whale) entry on the subject, I was taken aback that some scholars (I presume, wiki isn’t specific) think some beachings may be **suicide** , anyone know the latest dope on this theory? Is it sort of an [“old wives’ tale?”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_wives_tale) Has it been pretty much discredited or does it still have some currency? OR various links on topic [link](http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/ask02/0293.html) [link](http://www.mindfully.org/Water/Whales-Beach-Cape-Cod12aug02.htm) [link](http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=15453) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/2 "2005-11-07T00:16:30Z")
Considering that the Wiki article doesn’t even _mention_ biologically mediated possibilites like parasites etc., and focuses exclusively on sonar and other man made causes, I’d say it has a fairly obvious agenda. Out of curiosity I wonder if there are any recorded beachings of whales before the age of sonar. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/3 "2005-11-07T00:28:22Z")
Is [700 AD](http://www.whaling.jp/english/isana/no27_02.html) in the pre-sonar period? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/4 "2005-11-07T00:33:09Z")
Oh, and there’s always the [straightdope](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbugsuicide.html) on animal suicide. Those guys know everything 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/5 "2005-11-07T00:44:32Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > Is [700 AD](http://www.whaling.jp/english/isana/no27_02.html) in the pre-sonar period? Thanks for the link, what a fascinating article! God bless the internet! ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/6 "2005-11-07T03:13:58Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > Is [700 AD](http://www.whaling.jp/english/isana/no27_02.html) in the pre-sonar period? Interesting article, but none of the examples there seem like classic whale strandings - multiple whales swimming right up onto the beach. ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/7 "2005-11-07T03:24:21Z")
^^^ using the term “classic” there in the sense of “37 pilot whales beaching” which is what tends to draw the sonar theories. I realize that a single whale can beach itself. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/8 "2005-11-07T05:09:49Z")
Many of the references in that article are to “whales” but don’t say whether the whales were stranded at once or singly. There is also a reference to “The humpback whales stranded at Shinagawa in 1798” [my emphasis]. Unless this refers to a series of single whale strandings, this sounds like more than one at a time. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/9 "2005-11-07T07:42:43Z")
So little is known about the causes of marine mammal strandings that it is possible that whales/cetaceans commit suicide. It’s really a pretty huge gray area and there’s lots of hypotheses out there, but some of them are impossible to test while all of them are infeasible to test. Basically, it’s often a case of “your guess is as good as mine.” Most of the cetaceans that strand are either [ill in some way](http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/faq/index.asp#Marine%20mammals%20on%20land) or are following others that are ill. There is a lot of evidence suggesting connections between some stranding events and human produced sounds from some types of sonar and from seismic tests/oil exploration, but there are definitely many strandings that have nothing to do with such events. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/10 "2005-11-07T12:54:29Z")
I find it ironic that the same government that assumed Manuel Noriega would surrender himself for trial if we bombarded him with loud noises categorically denies it’s possible that loud noises could distress marine mammals. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-on-suicidal-beaching-theory/329833/11 "2005-11-07T14:32:04Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I find it ironic that the same government that assumed Manuel Noriega would surrender himself for trial if we bombarded him with loud noises categorically denies it’s possible that loud noises could distress marine mammals. > > Sailboat Well, I just watched a National Geographic special on this subject, and that program suggested that the government did not “categorially deny” it. I thought the Navy was cooperating (as best it could, given its concerns with security, training, and the like) to minimize the use of sonar in areas known to be home to large numbers of whales.