what caused 77 healthy whales to die on a Scottish beach?

A mass stranding last week that left 77 pilot whales dead on the Orkney island of Sanday was the largest ever recorded on the British coast. Initially, 12 of the animals were thought to be alive on Tresness Beach - but sadly they did not survive.

The event came almost exactly a year after 55 pilot whales stranded at Tolsta Beach on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides on 16 July 2023. All but one of the whales died. According to Dr Andrew Brownlow, Director of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) at the University of Glasgow, this ...