June 30, 2008
PHUKET, Thailand (AFP) - Thirty false killer whales swam ashore on a beach near the Thai resort isle of Phuket, but local residents and hotel staff saved all but one of them, a marine official said Friday.
The whales, which were up to 4.2 metres (nearly 14 feet) long, beached Thursday on Racha Island in the Andaman Sea, said Wannakiat Thubthimsang, director of the Phuket Marine Biological Center.
Residents and hotel staff rushed out to carry them back into the rough seas, he told AFP.
Ten whales had to be loaded onto trucks and carried to another beach less than a kilometre (mile) away, where calmer waters made it easier to return them to sea, he added.
"One of them died from shock," Wannakiat said.
Scientists weren't sure why the whales swam themselves ashore.
"They may have run aground because of the strong wave, or they could have been misled by their leader's sonar signal," he said. "It's not the first time this has happened, but this is a very large number."
False killer whales are not a threatened species. They are much smaller and less aggressive than their distant relatives, the Orca, or killer whale.
Like Orcas, scientists classify them as dolphins rather than whales. They are social creatures and are known for stranding themselves.
