by Cecil Morella

BALANGA, Philippines (AFP) – Fishermen and volunteers in the Philippines managed to rescue more than 200 beached whales on Tuesday by guiding them back into deep water, officials said.

Residents of seaside towns west of Manila raised the alarm early in the day when they saw a large pod of melon-headed whales in shallow water.

Three of the whales were later found dead and authorities feared others would die unless they could be guided into deeper water.

The head of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Malcolm Sarmiento initially said on local radio and television the stranded mammals were dolphins, but experts told AFP they were in fact melon-headed whales.

Mariel Flores, a veterinarian, said melon-headed whales were "easily mistaken for dolphins because of their size and their teeth, which resemble those of dolphins."

Government marine biologist Rizza Salinas said the mammals, which travel in pods of 100 or more, may have been disorientated by damage to their hearing caused by illegal dynamite fishing in the area.

Another theory was that they reacted to a major underwater earthquake.

Authorities said they had managed to guide most of the stranded mammals back into deeper water and away from the shore.

The whales were said late Tuesday to be heading back into open water, although one was taken to a nearby marine park for observation by veterinarians. Link

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Lucky for the whales they're not on the menu.

I saw thos on the news...d@mn...there were like 300 of them


oh and they r dolphins not whales

WRONG, they ARE WHALES.

I forgot the name, but they are the smallest whales there, and besides we dont see the pointed snout there at the pics.

They are Melon headed Whales which is also part of the Dolphin Family. Beached whales are alarming because this might be a sign of a major natural catastrophe coming soon which has something to do with the Earth's Magnetic Field or Tectonic Plates.

Didn't you know that the Dolphin's Brain is bigger than the Human Brain and the Sperm Whale has the biggest Brain in the world?

technically they r dolphins....like a killer whale is actually a dolphin and not a whale.
i learned that from Seaworld

lol and i thought it had to do with the water in manila bay...

Dolphins, whales they're kinda related.

Melon-headed whales, Killer whales and Pilot whales are indeed members of the dolphin family or Delphinidae.

But their appearance is a little bit different from the common dolphins that we're familiar with, hence the reason they are called whales.

It's like calling a wolf or a fox, a dog, which they are (Canidae family), but we don't call them that. I guess the names people used to refer to these animals before scientists get to study them and their origins extensively, well...stuck up to this day.

Other names of the Melon-headed whales are electra dolphin, little killer whale and many-toothed blackfish.

Hencforth we will know call them the Melon Headed Whalfins.

There are three groups Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises for they are different species but closely related. Technically, Killer Whales and Melon Headed Whales are Dolphins even if they are called Whales. I think the Melon Headed Whales should be called Melon Headed Dolphins and the Killer Whales should be called Killer Dolphins.

I'm glad their doing their job rescuing and not whaling.

The Japanese I think are into whaling. Those whales are lucky they did not land in Japan.

Let's take a closer look.




BTW, did you know that Southern Luzon has one of the top dive spots in the world to swim with Whale sharks?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-D38RKe3V4