Every year around 2000 whales, dolphins and porpoises beach
themselves, and little is known about why. Some species seem to
be more inclined to strand in large numbers than others, and
these are all toothed whales; sperm whales, pilot whales, killer
whales, beaked whales and some oceanic dolphins. These species
normally live in large, tightly knit groups and mostly in deep
waters. Solitary species and those living in shallow waters are
rarely victims of mass strandings.  When a single animal strands
itself, it mostly has to do with it being injured or sick. Mass
strandings, on the other hand, remains an unsolved mystery. It
is believed that the strong social bonds between the
whales might be a factor here, in the way that if one animal is
in danger of stranding, the rest of the pod will follow it and
subsequently beach themselves as well. Cetaceans have a
complicated echolocation system and some scientists believe that
the system may have difficulties detecting gently-sloping
coastlines, so to the whales it m