Fishermen in Chile have rescued 25 false killer whales that became stranded at low tide on a beach in the Strait of Magellan. Sadly, 20 whales have died despite the best efforts of rescuers, including the Chilean army.
It is not clear why these individual whales beached, but false killer whales are amongst those whale species known to occasionally mass live strand around the world. The principle reason for this is that they live in very tightly socially knit schools. Out in the deep seas this works very well and they collaborate in all their activities. In shallow conditions, however, this same life strategy gets them into trouble and, as they try to help each other, they may all come ashore.
More details at sky.com
