When a dead whale runs aground on the beach, the countdown is activated, sooner or later, if you don't act correctly, the whale will explode. But, Why do whales explode when they die? In this article on our site we will explain the reason for this fact, although many readers may find it somewhat unpleasant.
Whale stranding
It is common to see news about whales or other cetaceans stranded on beaches. Unfortunately, a large number of them die because can't get back into the water, even though humans try to help. Their sensitive skin and the weight they support are not able to withstand the environmental conditions outside the water.
The reasons why strandings occur, both massive and individual, are currently being studied.
They can occur for behavioral reasons, such as when they seek refuge on the shore fleeing from some danger in the open sea. Bad weather conditions can also attract cetaceans to beaches. In addition, sick individuals can become separated from their herd and end up stranded on the coast.
Despite all these causes that we could consider "natural", there is an anthropological reason, the sound caused by boats in oceans can create interference to whale sonar, causing disorientation and subsequent stranding.
Why do dead whales explode?
Even if an animal dies, part of its body still harbors life. This is the case of the digestive system Both in the stomach and in the intestines, microbial reproduction takes place linked to the decomposition of the body that produces, among other waste, gases, such as methane or hydrogen sulfide
Whales that are stranded on beaches and eventually die can appear to be bloating, and they are. The corpse will begin to inflate due to the gases produced by the putrefaction of the body. These gases initially come from the bacterial activity of the natural intestinal flora of the whale.
This bacterial activity that occurs after death can be highly variable as it depends on many factors such as the type of bacteria involved in the process, the cause of the death of the whale, pre- and post-mortem injuries, the type of food found in the stomach and the amount, likewise, will also be affected by the environmental conditions surrounding the whale.
Bacterial activity and putrefaction rate slow down with decreasing temperature, something that would happen inside the water but, on a beach, with warm temperatures, decomposition and gas production would increase considerably.
When the swollen body of a whale is subjected to mechanical stress, such as might be caused by a crane trying to remove a carcass from the beach, the gases and liquids exert pressure against the body wall and can explode, expelling all the rotten content
Famous Whale Blasts
In recent history there have been explosions of stranded whales on different coasts of the world. Here we show you some famous cases.
On a beach in Oregon, United States, in 1970, a sperm whale weighing between 40 and 65 tons, was stranded on the shore. The local government wanted to remove the body from the beach but, due to the weight, it seemed like an impossible task. Thus, the State decided to place dynamite next to the body, blow it up into very small pieces, and let the scavengers clean up the area. Finally, the amount of dynamite used was not enough, it only destroyed part of the animal that, inflated with gases, spread a layer of rotten tissues all over the beach. [1]
In the year 2004, in Taiwan, a whale that had been found beached and dead, it exploded in the middle of the city while being transferred to a research center. The explosion was caused by the gases accumulated inside the animal and the blows derived from the transport. Many passers-by, cars and store windows were covered in decomposing debris. [two]
A stranding of some 400 pilot whales (Globicephala spp.) in New Zealand, in 2017, kept the entire population on edge for fear of body explosions. More than 200 individuals were returned to the ocean. Those who died had a incision in the stomach to prevent gas buildup. Later they were buried in some nearby dunes, not open to the public.
