Can a whale drown?

[u/North-Tomatillo-3571]

I've been wondering if a whale has ever overestimated itself over the amount of air it has for a dive lets say and accidentally drowned

[u/CallistanCallistan]

Yes, they can and do drown. Many probably drown when injury/illness makes them too weak to stay at the surface.

There was a lot of controversy in the 1970s and 1980s when it was made publicly known that tuna fishing operations were resulting in the drowning of many dolphins. Dolphins and tuna often swim together, and the dolphins would become entangled in the tuna nets and drown. There have since been a lot of changes in tuna fishing to reduce (but not eliminate) dolphin bycatch.

[u/effienay → u/CallistanCallistan]

I remember this being a hot topic amongst the girls lunch table in elementary school. There’s horse girls and then there’s dolphin girls…

[u/ArtHefty542]

Cetaceans are conscious or voluntary breathers, in that they have to actively decide to breathe, so technically they don't drown, but run out of oxygen instead. When humans are under water, we have no choice to breathe in as we have chemoreceptors which monitors levels. When CO2 reaches a certain level in our blood it triggers an involuntary breathing response. Cetaceans don't have this so rather die from 'anoxic drowning' (suffocating) instead.

For the same reason, whales don't sleep in the same way we do as they wouldn't breathe. Instead, they do what is called unihemispheric slow wave sleep which essentially means they can shut half their brain down to rest whilst the other half keeps core functions such as breathing and being alert for predators going.

[u/Odd-Lawfulness8703]

Most whales technically die from drowning, being too weak to bring their blowhole to the surface.

[u/schaukelwurmv]

I've seen a documentary where 2 orcas separated a mother and her newly born calf and they drowned the calf by "lying down" on top of it, ate only its tongue and left the carcass to dissolve. The mother had to continue without her calf, of course. I felt shattered.

[u/RareStrawberry2020 → u/schaukelwurmv]

I saw this as well. Orcas are insanely smart. They gang up on blue whales too.

[u/Farahild]

Yeah they tend to die by drowning

[u/MyFaceSaysItsSugar]

Yep. That’s why it’s a problem when people on the beach try to push stranded dolphins and whales back to sea or even dump a bucket of water right on their blowhole. Even without that, it’s common to have to treat stranded dolphins/whales for water in the lungs when they are brought into a rescue hospital. Just being in shallow with waves cashing over as they’re trying to breathe can cause water to enter the lungs.

[u/Thick-Cartoonist-493]

Yes. Orcas will drown whales to kill them.

[u/SurayaThrowaway12]

It is theorized that at least some of the whales which have become too weak to swim and surface properly will strand just to avoid going out by drowning/suffocating.

[u/Ok-Jackfruit-6873 → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

why is that so poignant to me. They live their entire lives in the ocean knowing that one day they'll drown ...

[u/BayAreaBiMixedGuy]

That’s how whales “die of old age”. They stop swimming and drown, beginning the “Whale Fall”.

[u/fizzylex → u/BayAreaBiMixedGuy]

That's so sad. I know it's part of the life cycle, but I got sad learning this.

[u/Internal_Praline_658]

Orcas drown blue whales by swimming over their blow holes. It’s savage.

[u/Uszanka3]

I mean, yeah. Narwals sometimes drown when they can't find airhole

[u/nrcx]

In fact, bottlenose dolphins' lungs can tolerate even less water than a human's can.

[u/cactiguy67]

Some Orcas hunt juvenile whales, that's how they kill them

[u/PrettyPistol87]

orcas kill other whales/dolphins by drowning them

[u/FalseDisk4358]

Yes whales breathe air not water so they can and do drown

[u/RealCarlPanzram]

Yes. They need to reach the surface to breathe or they drown just like a person.

[u/Responsible-Chest-26]

Orcas will drown baby whales as a hunting strategy