Beached Whales Bring a Message to the World

Thirteen sperm whales were beached on the north coast of Germany in 2016. All were perfectly young, healthy, males, aging 10-15 years old.

 Necropsies revealed the contents of the whale's stomachs -- along with squid beaks, fish, and other normal items on the whale menu was a whole lot of garbage, ranging from abandoned fishing gear to car parts.

The cause of their deaths was from the whales finding themselves in too shallow water. If a whale enters water that is too shallow, the weight of its own body will crush its internal organs. The amount of indigestible garbage found in their stomachs would have still caused major health problems down the road, including intestinal blockage. It also shows how much trash ends up in our oceans.

Although sperm whales have jaws which they use to catch prey, evidence suggests that they are just as susceptible to consuming garbage as their baleen cousins. Scientists often find whole fish and squid in the stomachs of sperm whales, suggesting that they inhale their prey and swallow it whole.

  Dead whales have been showing up on beaches for many years now with stomachs full of trash. They are not the only marine animals to consume large amounts of garbage.