<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>About 200 pilot whales have perished after stranding themselves on an exposed, surf-swept beach on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, Australian rescuers said Thursday.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just 35 of the approximately 230 beached whales are still alive, according to state wildlife services, who described a tough battle ahead to rescue survivors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aerial images from the scene revealed dozens of glossy, black mammals strewn along Ocean Beach, stuck on the waterline where the frigid southern ocean meets the sand.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Locals covered some of the creatures with blankets and doused them with buckets of sea water to keep them alive until more help arrived.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have got about 35 surviving animals out on the beach and the primary focus this morning will be on the rescue and release of these animals," said state wildlife operations manager, Brendon Clark.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Unfortunately we do have a high mortality rate on this particular stranding," he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Helpers usually wade into the water and use harnesses to float the mammals into deeper waters, but officials said a new technique will also be tested, using a aquaculture firm's mechanical aid.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From there a vessel will take them to deeper clearer waters to avoid a new stranding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two years ago nearby Macquarie Harbour was the scene of the country's largest-ever mass stranding, involving almost 500 pilot whales.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 300 pilot whales died during that stranding, despite the efforts of dozens of volunteers who toiled for days in Tasmania's freezing waters to free them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Clark said the conditions of the latest stranding were tougher for the whales than two years ago, when the animals were in "much more sheltered waters".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attention will also turn to the removal and disposal of carcasses, which often attract sharks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>- Distress signals -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Necropsies will be performed for clues as to why the whales beached, but scientists still do not fully understand why mass strandings occur.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Scientists have suggested pods could go off track after feeding too close to shore.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pilot whales -- which can grow to more than six metres (20 feet) long -- are also highly sociable, so they may follow podmates who stray into danger.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That sometimes occurs when old, sick or injured animals swim ashore and other pod members follow, trying to respond to the trapped whale's distress signals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Others believe gently sloping beaches like those found in Tasmania confuse the whales' sonar making them think they are in open waters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The latest stranding came days after a dozen young male sperm whales were reported dead in a separate mass stranding on King Island -- between Tasmania and the Australian mainland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">State officials said that incident may have been a case of "misadventure".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In nearby New Zealand strandings are also common.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There, around 300 animals beach themselves annually, according to official figures and it is not unusual for groups of between 20 and 50 pilot whales to run aground.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But numbers can run into the hundreds when a "super pod" is involved -- in 2017, there was a mass stranding of almost 700 pilot whales. Source:HT</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">bnbd24/kh</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div>