- MARIGOT, St. Maarten -- Despite
attempts to save them, 36 beached short-finned pilot whales died Tuesday,
a day after they arrived on the shores of St. Maarten.
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- Locals had tried to push two whales back into the water,
but they soon returned to shore and died.
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- Biologists don't know what caused the whales to venture
off course, but suspect that water temperature or the whales sonar system
caused them to become disoriented.
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- Short-finned pilot whales, which can measure up to five
metres in length, usually swim in pods, and when a leader goes astray the
entire pod often follows.
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- On Tuesday, the bodies were buried in beachside graves
but three corpses were kept for a post-mortem.
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- In 2002, one whale was found beached in St. Maarten.
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- Copyright © CBC 2003
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- http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/11/25/whale031125
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