Why do whales explode? As for the giants of the sea, disaster strikes, local scale
Whales, sadly, are sometimes on the shore. Scientists estimate that over the year, around 2000 individuals of different species are on the beaches in different places of the planet and die. The reasons for this phenomenon are many. The animal may be fearful of predators, suffer due to a collision with the ship, get sick, lose coordination because of the noise of the ship's sonar.
But, whatever was the cause of death of the whale, with its huge trunk you need something to do until it became a source of stench and a breeding ground for bacteria. (Caution! Tin).
In that case, if the layer of sand on the beach allows you to dig the pits, the carcass of a whale, cut into several pieces and buried on the spot. But if sand is not enough, for the disposal of the carcass of the giant sea need to be picked up from the shore and take in a suitable place for this.
It is in this way decided to get rid of a dead whale on the shore of the authorities of Taiwan Tainan city in 2004. A dead sperm whale, which was thrown by the sea on the shore, was so impressive in size that its loading onto the platform of the truck it took 2 crane, 50 workers and 13 hours.
The sperm whale was planned not just to lose, but to get to the biologists in order to determine the cause of death of the animal. For citizens of many hours tinkering with a dead whale has turned into a free show. Around the place of loading operations, a crowd of onlookers and vendors in a hurry to eat.
When the whale finally loaded and began to drive through the city centre, a crowd of spectators intently followed him. On one of the narrow Central streets, the unexpected happened — a beached whale with a deafening crash exploded, drenching homes, cars, the sidewalk and present the stinking muck, blood and chunks of viscera.
Later it turned out that the poor fellow died from a spinal injury, which is likely received in a collision with a large vessel. The process of decay began at the point of impact during the life of the sperm whale, once on the beach he quickly got to the required condition, filled with gases.
Endogenous explosion of a whale is not an extraordinary phenomenon. Whalers are well aware of this and therefore, before transporting the carcass is pierced in certain places, to release the gas. Ignoring this rule can be seriously affected, as in the explosion of some of its fragments flying at a speed of 70 km/hour and may be 50 metres from the explosion of the carcass.
But the biggest problems arise not when the spontaneous explosion of a whale, and when the case is taken with the light people. The most shocking case of stupidity and negligence has occurred in the small town of Florence, Oregon, in 1970. 9 November storm beached the giant sperm whale, whose length was 14 meters and a weight of about 7 tons.
Confident Thornton gives an interview before the explosion
Local police, whose scope included the solution to this serious problem, decided to remove a dead animal by the explosion. The cops have consulted by phone with representatives of the Navy of the United States and decided that to cope with their delicate mission.
Responsible for undermining the carcass of a whale has appointed engineer George Thornton, who decided to take the explosives a little more to the whale probably ripped to shreds. Before the surgery, he was showing off for the cameras of local television journalists and willingly gave interviews.
Thornton worried that if explosives are too little need to arrange more explosions that will result in additional troubles. Therefore the dynamite was taken from a margin on shore brought as much as 450 kg of hazardous substances.
The engineer ordered that the dynamite sticks were placed on only one side of the carcass, suggesting that in this case, lumps of the sperm whale would go to the sea. Look at the explosion gathered 75 people, which the police drove away from the carcass and forced to climb the dunes.
The most intelligent of the spectators, Walt Umenhofer, decided to stay away from the epicenter and remained on the road, in front of his new car Oldsmobile 88 Regency, which he had just bought on sale. Everyone in the neighborhood was talking about the dead giant on the beach, so the slogan of the campaign of the dealership was Get a Whale of a Deal on a New Oldsmobile, i.e. "Get a discount the size of a whale on the new Oldsmobile". In the video a man can be seen at the 2:51 minute.
Umenhofer served in the army and fought in world war II, so he knew well the destructive power of dynamite and the more fraught with calculation errors. He specifically came to Thornton to ask him again to count the weight of the dynamite, but he just shrugged.
November 12, 1970, three days after the appearance of carcasses on shore, it blew up nearly a half ton of selected American dynamite. The fact that Thornton got excited, it became clear a second later after the explosion, when the town of Florence, fell the rain of blood and flesh of a dead sperm whale.
Pieces of the marine mammal bombed houses, cars and people just falling from the sky. One of the pieces flew into car Umenhofer, although he kept as far away from the scene.
Broken car Umenhofer
When the smoke and the clouds of sand cleared, it became clear that a large part of the whale's body remained lying on the shore. Gulls, which had Thornton, and has not appeared. Despite the obvious failure, the engineer did not consider his mission a failure.
25 years later, in an interview, George had the audacity to tell the press that everything went like clockwork, and the story of the rain of guts and blood came up eager for sensational journalists. Engineer of the Department preferred not to talk about why he was transferred in 1970 to another city.
In 1979, on the beach, the sea once again threw a giant, but this time fate decided not to tempt the carcass and just burned. But some of the explosions continue to use for cutting large specimens of cetaceans. However, don't do it on the shore, and atrocious dead animal far into the open sea.
But it also happens that the stranded whale do not need to removed, as it were, for example, far from the seas, Paris.
Keywords: Explosion | Stupidity | Sperm whale | Killer whale | Danger | Dead body