Indiana Gazette from Indiana, Pennsylvania • Page 4

4- 11, If7f. Decomposed Sperm Whales Discovered On Beach GEj. oe iiro 1V1ULEGE, Mexico (AP) The beaching of 56 sperm whales on a remote Gulf of Cal- beach possibly the largest beaching recorded in the Western Hemisphere has marine biologists puzzled. the whale 'knows and dead whales tell no tales," said Dr. Ray Gilmore, of the San Diego Museum of Natural History at La Jolla, Calif.

The only larger beaching of sperm whales was in New Zealand in 1974 where 72 whales died, said biology professor Peter Bryant of the University of California-Irvine. Gilmore said it "could very possibly be true" that the beaching at Mulege, Baja California, about 350 miles south of the U.S. border, was the largest in the hemisphere. "I have records of all the strandings for several hundred years," he said in an interview Wednesday. "Sperm, whales have been stranding since the 1700s and there is literature recording it.

They either panicked when they went ashore or they were looking for food and that could be squid. "Squid will sometimes strand themselves, come into shallow water after'the dark of the moon, which was operative at the time of the Mulege stran- dings." he said. "But I'm just plain guessing." An official of the American Cetacean Society in Los Angeles said scientists who examined the carcasses found them too decomposed to determine much. Mexican officials ignited the rotting bodies with old tires and gasoline to dispose of them. "We didn't learn nearly as Concert Pianist On World Tour With New Bride HUNTSVILLE, Ala.

(AP) Concert pianist Hans Richter- Haaser is on a world concert tour, with a new bride. He and his wife, the former Elfriede Paetz. left on the tour after their wedding here Saturday. They will live in Bielefeld West Germany. Richter-Haaser met Miss Paetz-when she served as his escort here for a performance 1975.

She had come to Hunts- vine in the early 1950s as a member of the German contingent that included Wernher Von Braun and other rocket experts'. Miss Paetz been active with the symphony guild and other music groups. much as we wanted to," said Millie Payne of the society. "The animals were too far gone (decomposed). There was very little we could do." Scientists who measured the whales said the group was a nursing herd composed of mothers and offspring.

Bryant said it was unusual for such herds to be in the area. Whales usually beach because their sonor system for navigation is fouled by storms or parasites. Bryant said. Once a whale beaches, it puts out distress signals and others are reluctant to abandon it, he said. Gilmore said if the whales followed squid to the beaches, they may have been trapped by a fast-ebbing tide.

The upper part of the Gulf of California is-rich in squid, a favorite food of whales, and has "very large tidal ranges, up to 15 or 20 feet, and sperm whales can be stranded very quickly if they are caught by the ebbing tide," Gilmore said. "There was no observation of dead squid at Mulege, but that doesn't mean there weren't any there, because no one got there for about a week no one, that is, who could determine the details accurately." He said the chance that killer svhales could have frightened the sperm whales "is a possibility. I don't know of that ever happening before. They were either driven or attracted by food. "The'whole business is sad because a great deal of information could have been obtained.

But then the business of getting rid of whales from the. beach is a matter of immediate concern. You can smell them for miles away. But then the smell of whales probably is not bad for the health of the people as the black smoke from burning petroleum and tires they used to burn the whales' carcasses." Victor Hernandes, of Santa Rosalia, Mexico, claims he saw the beachings and has his own theory. He said he was making wind chimes from sea shells at his beach stand when he saw the water spout of El Bufeo, the Mexican name for the killer whales which frequent the warm gulf waters.

El Bufeo, Hernandes maintains, was chasing another, larger object in the water. am-sure El Bufeo was chasing two sperm whales," said Hernandes. "My eyes do not play tricks on me. Such an unusual sight I would not make up." KLONDIKES AMERICA'S FAVORITE ICE CREAM TREAT! SI 49 JUMBO BOLOGNA lt 1 69 DELICIOUS STRAWBERRY ISAIY'S ORANGE JUICE 39 80 Vigd. PARTY TRAYS MADE TO ORDER 1041.

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