Still no cause for Australian mass whale stranding

Authorities have rescued 108 pilot whales that survived Australia's worst mass stranding, as crews prepare to remove the remaining decomposing carcasses from the shallows of Tasmania state, officials said on Saturday.According to officials from the Parks and Wildlife Service, there are no living whales remaining in the Macquarie Harbour and the task of clearing the dead whales' bodies is now under way.

Some 470 whales were discovered on Monday and Wednesday beached on the shore and sand bars along the remote west coast of the island state near the town of Strahan.Rescuers are now turning to the task of disposing 350 carcasses at sea, which the wildlife service said will take a number of days.Pilot whales are known for stranding in mass groups.The top five largest beachings in Tasmania, dating to the early 1800s, all are from the same species.

David Hocking, a marine mammal scientist at Monash University in Melbourne, said pilot whales form strong family bonds and can travel in groups of up to 1,000.The reason for the recent mass stranding will probably remain a mystery but the social nature of the species involved may have played a part, he said.

Long-finned pilot whales are more closely related to dolphins and rely on echolocation, a series of rebounding clicks, to navigate.Australia's largest mass stranding had previously been 320 pilot whales near the Western Australia state town of Dunsborough in 1996.Tasmania's previous largest stranding involved 294 whales on the northwest coast in 1935.

(Image Credit: AP)