 After seeing the whales during the gathering darkness, we left the beach and returned at dawn. Unlike the sperm whales of the earlier strandings, these had died only shortly before Dr. Clyde Roper and Dr. Malcolm Clarke reached them, giving the scientists a chance to examine creatures fresh from the sea. They both described as unusual the strandings of so many whales—five here at Puponga, two near Hawera—over a short time. Pilot whales have often beached on the tidal flats around Puponga, but longtime residents could not remember such a mass stranding of sperm whales. These were all males around 30 years old and were more than 40 feet (12.19 meters) long. |
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