Mass beaching fuels ‘unscientific’ Japan quake fears

A recent mass beaching of whales in Japan has sparked fears of another big earthquakes because apparently, the same thing happened prior to the big one back in 2011.

The mass beaching of over 150 melon-headed whales on Japan’s shores has fueled fears of a repeat of a seemingly unrelated event in the country — the devastating 2011 undersea earthquake that killed over 18,000 people.

Despite a lack of scientific evidence linking the two events, a flurry of online commentators have pointed to the appearance of around 50 melon-headed whales — a species that is a member of the dolphin family — on Japan’s beaches six days prior to the monster quake, which unleashed a towering tsunami and triggered a nuclear disaster.

Of course there's no scientific evidence, but I'm guessing there won't be until the whales can talk to us.

A similar event happened in New Zealand -

More than 100 pilot whales died in a mass stranding on a remote New Zealand beach on Feb. 20, 2011, two days before a large quake struck the country’s second-largest city, Christchurch.

A lot of people in Japan were pretty freaked out about it and lit up twitter with their fears. It could be normal, could be Fukushima related or could be a harbinger of exactly what the Japanese fear.

Wondering what you all think.

www.japantimes.co.jp...

a reply to: Maluhia

Someone get a scintillator count of their bodies radiation dose. Other than that check their sonar organs, if they are ruptured that may have been blasted by sonar and literally been driven from the water. Or toxins. Washed up whale carcasses are considered toxic waste nowadays.

a reply to: intrptr

Just found this additional info

Television footage showed several animals from the large pod had been badly cut, and many had deep gashes on their skin.

Not sure what that indicates but just awful. People are desperately trying to save them but seem to be fighting a losing battle.

www.japantoday.com...

a reply to: intrptr

They do check for toxins, radiation and heavy-metal during the necropsy.

My other thought was sonar also and Multi Sail a training exercise has been going on for about 3 weeks.

It may or may not be significant that there were 2 EQs in Japan today, a 4.7 not that far from Fukushima, and a 4.6 further southwest.

ETA: Another 4.5 mag just now, this time near Fukushima.

an disturbing of the magnetic field is an eathquake sign...if the Dolphins are navigating by the mag.field yes they could take an wrong turn...

It's heartbreaking to see this.

It is unscientific. There is right now no evidence to suggest that there is any link at all between the two incidents. If there were, then surely legends of this connection would span centuries, given that Japan relies on the ocean so much, and given that the sea around Japan is such a vital part of their society.

If there was a link, it's reasonable to believe that this would have happened hundreds of times in their recorded history, and there is no evidence of that at all. This link would have been noticed hundreds of years ago if it existed.

I guess we'll see in the coming days though, right? I mean, surely if people believe (without any evidence to support it) that whales being beached is a precursor to an EQ then we should see one in the next week.

And if there is a considerable EQ in the region within the next week, the scientific community will likely get started on working out exactly what it is that these beautiful animals are experiencing, then emulate that sensory ability (or disability) in an array of existing sensors.

Regardless of there being no scientific evidence of a coming earthquake, if I lived on the coast of Japan, I'd be preparing for an earthquake. It's better to be safe than sorry!

There was a mass stranding of whales off the coast of Tasmania a few weeks before the Boxing Day tsunami hit in 2004. An anatomy professor suggested a connection to beached whales:

testazyk.com...

This can probably apply to dolphins, too.

Given these guys love whale meat, I suspect they will have a feast.

a reply to: texasgirl

Wasn't there also stories about animals moving to higher ground before anyone even suspected the tsunami?

originally posted by: Maluhia
a reply to: texasgirl



Wasn't there also stories about animals moving to higher ground before anyone even suspected the tsunami?

I saw a special on National Geographic about this being the case in the 2004 tsunami. And people heard lots of birds causing a ruckus. It seems safe to say that animals are especially attuned to these types of events. Horses becoming restless, etc...