Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.
Here’s a sad image of a dead or dying whale on a beach in South Africa. It seems that people are having to try to save beached whales increasingly often, and sadly there’s some suggestion that our marine sonar systems could be at fault.
More information on beached whales at Wikipedia.
Thanks to adam lewis.
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Zoom-out 6 or 7 levels. What’s with all those circular formations in the surrounding areas? They look land-based, like some sort of farming technique (some are green, most are not).
they are just the fields in the way irrigation systems work. They go round on a coil so the fields end up round.
ohh.. no kidding. is sad, poor whale i hate mans who kill animals.. they don’t have heart.(sry for my bad english) the better animals 4 me r whales, dolphins, dogs and hamsters.
I’m not a massive animal lover but i dont think i’m alone in having a certain affinity for whales - just look at the reaction we had recently when one swan up the Thames.
I am led to believe we are more closely related to whales genetically than any other animal. They seem to have a real dignity and its always sad to see one die, either naturally or at the hands of humans.
As the great John Shuttleworth said ‘Save The Whale’!
Here is an article that talks about beached whales in the 1800s and going as far back as the 1600s. http://www.capecodonline.com/special/pilotwhales/acentury1.htm Sounds pretty common in the article. I’d like to see some figures on the increase before I bite off on it.
That could be a whale, but it could be alot of other stuff. The red looks like blood, but I’ve never seen blood from a beached whale. A shame if it is.
if they werent so bloody big they wouldnt keep crashing. And you get loads of beached trout, just nobody can see them
Those circles are called pivots here in the US. The irrigations system rotates on a central “pivot”. Here are some around my home town:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Many are a large as forty acres.
quote ” I am led to believe we are more closely related to whales genetically than any other animal” Cookie Monster
Whales closest land based relatives are bears—strange but true
Whales are allways beachin them selves. no one is to blame. not sonars or n e one.
Rob B is Absolutely correct. Humans cannot substanially and irreversable alter anything on this planet You all need to stop feeling with your heart and start thinking with your head. Man is not the enemy
um.. humans being more closley related to whales genetically than any other animal? so the fact we differ from chimps by just a couple of chromosomes means that we must be identical to whales by just a gene or two?
it is sad to see a whale in distress, i have seen a beached whale and helped get it back in the water, and seriously, from the tv footage it looks easy, but try pushing one… its like pushing a building. unfortunatly the whale we were trying to shift got back to open water and beached itself again three times before it finally died.
the blood could be because it has been attacked and ended up beached while trying to escape, injured itself on rocks during beaching or (as in the case of the one i tried to save) it was under constant attack from birds, which spilled a lot of blood, but nothing like that, but then there dont seem to be people around this whale to keep them away
this one didnt beach itself, it’s bleeding so it must be hurt by ship or something
I think it’s worth pointing out that you can’t tell if it’s injured from here.
This is a many-ton animal; if it’s rotting, blood and bodily fluids will need to go somewhere…
i hope he wasn’t injured , but you also can’t tell that from here