The whales beached themselves on the Chatham Islands, about 500 miles east of New Zealand's main islands. None of the whales could be refloated and all either died naturally or were euthanized.
The whales were found stranded on the remote west coast of Australia's island state of Tasmania. A marine biologist said the dead animals would be tested for toxins that might explain the disaster.
A stranded whale pod on Tasmania's west coast appears to be pilot whales and at least half are presumed to still be alive, local government officials said Wednesday.
Australian wildlife authorities are investigating the deaths of the whales, which were discovered Monday on Tasmania's King Island, off the southeastern coast.
Another six people who had been on the boat off New Zealand were rescued. A local mayor says the water was dead calm and the assumption was that a whale had surfaced from beneath the boat.
A veterinarian said that during the rescue operation, the dangerously thin white mammal began to have breathing difficulties, and so experts decided to humanely euthanize the creature.
Lolita was captured five decades ago in the Puget Sound. Animal rights activists say she's the oldest orca in captivity and should live her final years back home in a seaside sanctuary.
Whale Week is underway in Savannah, Ga., from Nov. 15 through Nov. 21, 2021. Each year between November and April, endangered North Atlantic right whales, Georgia's official state marine mammal, migrate to the Southeast's warmer waters to calve. All Things Considered host Rickey Bevington talks to Paulita Bennett-Martin, a co-founder of Whale Week.
Scientists have gotten the best estimates yet of exactly how much baleen whales, the largest animals on the planet, can consume in one day. Their caloric intake is mind-boggling.
Are you terrified yet? Because we certainly are. Scientists even named their discovery of a 43 million-year-old fossil after Anubis, an Egyptian god associated with death.
Michael Packard says he was trapped in the whale's mouth for 30 to 40 seconds before it tossed him back in the water, bruised but otherwise unharmed. Experts tell NPR such events are extremely rare.
An international team of scientists is preparing to trap a dozen baleen whales off the coast of Norway and conduct hearing tests on them. It could inform decisions on military and business projects.
Belugas play, a sperm whale nurses, and orcas teach their pups to hunt in a series of photographs from National Geographic photographer and explorer Brian Skerry.
