Powerful Sonar Causes Deafness In Dolphins 323
Hugh Pickens writes "Mass strandings of dolphins and whales could be caused because the animals are rendered temporarily deaf by military sonar, experiments have shown. Tests on a captive dolphin have demonstrated that hearing can be lost for up to 40 minutes on exposure to sonar and may explain several strandings of dolphins and whales in the past decade. Most strandings are still thought to be natural events, but the tests strengthen fears that exercises by naval vessels equipped with sonar are responsible for at least some of them. For example, in the Bahamas in March, 2000, 16 Cuvier's beaked whales and Blainville's beaked whales and a spotted dolphin beached during a US navy exercise in which sonar was used intensively for 16 hours (PDF). 'The big question is what causes them to strand,' says Dr. Aran Mooney, of the University of Hawaii. 'What we are looking at are animals whose primary sense is hearing, like ours is seeing. Their ears are the most sensitive organ they have.' In the experiment, scientists fitted a harmless suction cup to the dolphin's head, with a sensor attached that monitored the animal's brainwaves, and when the pings reached 203 decibels and were repeated, the neurological data showed the mammal had become deaf, for its brain no longer responded to sound. 'We definitely showed that there are physiological and some behavioral effects [from repeated, loud sonar], but to extrapolate that into the wild, we don't really know,' said Mooney."
That sucks for them (Score:5, Funny)
Guess dolphins and whales can't go to concerts. Although, I hear The Pingers have quite the underwater following.
In other news, when exposed to brilliant flashes of light, humans are rendered temporarily blind.
We can't stop or the terrorists will win! (Score:1, Funny)
The US Navy absolutely must continue these vital SONAR experiments! This news is undermining our national security! These scientists are out of control. Are we sure this "dolphin" isn't a Qaeda sympathizer? Was it even vetted?
If we stop experimenting in high-power SONAR, the terrorists and their submarines win!
F Dolphins (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Retarded (Score:3, Funny)
No it isn't.
Humans rule! Dolphins can suck it! (Score:1, Funny)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvoCojrj4qw
Re:you dont' need to make dolphins deaf. (Score:5, Funny)
It's common knowledge that exposure to 200+ decibels will make anything deaf.
Apart from deaf people.
Re:Dolphin stranding in ancient Greece (Score:3, Funny)
Classic Greek authors tell us that in the ancient Greece, dolphins and whales were already found stranded on the shore. This was a windfall for the locals, who were not eating meat very often. They saw it as a divine gift and thanked Poseidon for it. So considering that the Greek galleys didn't use sonar, we need to stop barking at the wrong tree and find the cause of this phenomenon.
Unless, of course, there was a sonar-equipped sub from Atlantis somewhere nearby... Or submerged alien vessels.
Re:That sucks for them (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Experiments like these... (Score:3, Funny)
Sort of like dropping a nuke on Denver in order to kill a few deer? Is it okay if I promise to eat everything I kill?
Well, if you go deer hunting with nukes you don't have to worry about cooking the meat afterwards ;)
Re:This probably causes permanent damage. (Score:3, Funny)
Plus if whale song isn't happening for a while, a space probe will come by and wreck everything.
Re:Dolphin stranding in ancient Greece (Score:3, Funny)
So considering that the Greek galleys didn't use sonar
[Citation needed]
Re:203 decibels? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:203 decibels? (Score:3, Funny)
>Couldn't the sonar be replaced by something less damaging? I guess water muffles radio waves, so a water radar is not a good idea. Maybe a very low frequency radar?
I say we replace the submarines with dolphins. We can make them effective by attaching laser beams to them. This has the added bonus of allowing us to stop worrying about the dolphins until some genius decides to mount laser beams on sharks. But no one here would ever dream of doing such a thing, so we'll be good to go!
Re:203 decibels? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:203 decibels? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Disarmament (Score:3, Funny)