Whale mass strandings linked to hearing loss

In November 2010 "one of the biggest mass deaths of cetaceans in Irish history" occurred in which at least 33 whales beached themselves on the north-west coast of County Donegal. The whales' deaths coincide with recent research into cetacean strandings, which suggests that stranded whales and dolphins often suffer from hearing loss. There is an ongoing debate over whether undersea noise pollution is harming whales.

Humpback whales form lasting bonds

Scientists have found that female humpback whales reunite each summer to feed, swim and socialise in the Gulf of St Lawrence, off Canada.

Though humpbacks spend the rest of the year apart migrating and breeding, it seems that individual humpbacks manage to find each other again in the open ocean each summer, spending the season feeding together.

It also seems that such friendships benefited the female humpbacks, since those with the most stable and long-lasting associations tended to give birth to the most calves. How the whales find each other each summer remains a mystery.