Five centuries of sperm whale strandings along the Flemish coast
De Smet, W.M.A. (1997). Five centuries of sperm whale strandings along the Flemish coast. Bull. Kon. Belg. Inst. Natuurwet. Biologie 67(suppl.): 11-14
In: Bulletin van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen. Biologie = Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. Biologie. Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen: Bruxelles. ISSN 0374-6429
Also appears in:
Jacques, G.; Lambertsen, R.H. (Ed.) (1997). Potvissterfte in de Noordzee: wetenschap en beheer = Sperm whale deaths in the North Sea: science and management. Bulletin van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen. Biologie = Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. Biologie, 67(Suppl.). Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen: Brussel. 133 + synthese (dutch) pp., more
Groups of male sperm whales sometimes visit the North Sea and may come close to its southern boundary, the Flemish coast, where moribund or dead specimens may sometimes become stranded at low tide. Subfossil finds prove that this phenomenon has existed for thousands of years, although it is rare, and that several specimens may sometimes become stranded together (as has happened in 1403, 1577 and 1937 and, more recently, in 1994). The stranding on 18 November 1994 involving three sperm whales stranded near Koksijde and one towed to Nieuwpoort has aroused huge interest among the public and has raised several questions and problems as many people interpret this stranding as being the result of pollution or other factors related to present-day human society.
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