30-feet whale washes ashore at Mumbai’s Juhu beach

The incident comes weeks after 45 short-finned pilot whales were stranded along a 15-km beach stretch in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.

In June last year, a 42-foot-long blue whale was washed ashore at the Revdanda coast, about 17 kms south of Alibaug in the neighbouring Raigad district.

Forest officials had contacted marine biologists after spotting it when it was still alive and struggling to survive.

However, the whale had later died.

While stranding of whales is not uncommon, mass beaching has baffled scientists for years. Whales, which are known to swim in large social groups, may sometimes follow a ‘disoriented’ leader and get beached.

SEE pictures of the beached whale

Some ‘natural’ causes for whale beaching include following prey-rich water currents towards land or panicking at the presence of a mega predator such as a killer whale. Scientists also blame gently sloping shorelines that can deceive whales dependent on echolocation for navigation.

Climate change and unnatural weather phenomena have also been known to affect whales.