A member of the public called the CCSN this morning to report a possible pilot whale swimming
dangerously close to shore. The whale was sighted near Scusset Beach in Bourne, MA, heading south. When I arrived this morning, I went with Katie and CT to check it out. We surveyed the area with binoculars and there was no whale in sight. We then traveled to a beach a little further south and surveyed the area there. There was no whale there either. This was good news. Whales occasionally follow food to shallow water. It probably just made its way back out to sea.
A potential pilot whale stranding is a scary situation. This is because pilot whales are one of the marine mammal species that tends to mass strand. There are many theories as to
why they mass strand; including geomagnetic anomalies which may confuse their navigational abilities, getting trapped by extreme high and low tides, getting trapped by the complex topography of 
the area, and falling victim to disease or injury. Further, pilot whales are extremely social animals. They usually travel in large pods of up to 100 whales. Since they travel together, if one whale strands, they all strand. It was really hard to see the dolphins strand this week. I can't even imagine what it would be like to see a mass stranding.
In the afternoon, I worked with the NMLC and helped Brian with some turtle care. First, we cut up some squid and shrimp to feed to the Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle, Claw. She ate very well today. Afterwards, we took her out of the pool to examine and weigh her. She weighed over 13 pounds. She gained a whole pound since last week! The difference between Claw and the new cold-stunned turtles is amazing. She looks great. She is healthy and will soon be traveling to Florida for release back to the sea.
Posted by Christy Buckley on Dec 15, 2006
