My Dragon's Lair Sharing is the reason for my being...: Pygmy sperm whale beached in Vero Beach

Fort Pierce - A damaged heart killed a pygmy sperm whale that washed ashore this week in Vero Beach.
Preliminary results of a necropsy performed Wednesday by experts at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution showed the animal died from heart failure known as cardiomyopathy. Humans face the same type of injury.
The creature's death was just the latest evidence suggesting how climate change and a host of other environmental stresses are affecting aquatic life, senior scientist Dr. Gregory Bossart said. And the noted researcher and marine mammal expert believes we might be next.

"One of our concerns is, this is a problem for these whales, but a lot of these whales are good sentinels for ocean health and also human health," Bossart said. "So what's impacting this whale could very easily be impacting us. So it's really in our own best interest to understand these problems. Our oceans are undergoing quite a bit of stress right now."
Bossart and a team of scientists have collected a growing swell of evidence during an ongoing health assessment of dolphins and other marine life in the Indian River Lagoon and oceans across the world.
In one of their latest papers published in the scientific journal Aquatic Mammals, the team found 48 percent of 30 whales studied between 1999 and 2006 suffered from cardiomyopathy.
More evidence came ashore Tuesday near the Rio Mar Sands condominium complex in Vero Beach.
Harbor Branch researchers immediately knew the whale had been sick for some time because it weighed only 655 pounds instead of a normal 1,200.
The weakened right side of the animal's heart and fluid-filled lungs confirmed the finding. Those are the same symptoms seen in humans with cardiomyopathy.
"That's a common thing we see in the emergency department," said Dr. Glenn Tremml, medical director of the emergency department at Indian River Medical Center.
Tremml, who assisted with the necropsy, said cardiomyopathy occurs when physical, chemical or viral factors damage the heart muscle that pumps blood to the lungs. When the heart fails, the lungs fill with a froth that drowns the animal.
"Most humans get cardiomyopathy from hypertension. When you have high blood pressure, it puts a lot of strain on the muscle, and the muscle eventually gives out," he said. "It's like, 'OK, start running.' Well eventually, you're going to give up, right? Your legs are going to give out."
And that, in a similar way, is what might be happening to the whales, according to Bossart's theory.
He thinks climate change and other factors have changed the location of the food supply, making it harder for the whales to find their diet of squid.
The harder they have to work for dinner, the more stress it puts on their hearts, which eventually give out.
And that's why it's so important for people to pay attention to what's going on in the oceans, Bossart said.
More articles By Gabriel Margasak Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers
November 1, 2007

Whale Beached Again In Melbourne - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando 8/2003
During heavy downpours, four men held the pigmy whale steady while the bluish-gray creature wiggled about in the sand, just south of Spessard Holland Park. www.local6.com/news/2404960/detail.html MELBOURNE BEACH -- A 7- to 8-foot whale that beached itself on the shore of a Melbourne, Fla., beach Thursday and then disappeared by into the surf has once again beached itself, according to Local 6 News.

Video
Men Attempt To Rescue Whale
During heavy downpours, four men held the pigmy whale steady while the bluish-gray creature wiggled about in the sand, just south of Spessard Holland Park.

A rescue crew from SeaWorld was been called to attempt to help the whale that is beached at the 2900 block of State Road A1A in Melbourne Beach. However, the whale swam back out into the turbid ocean as state biologists and rescuers from SeaWorld arrived.

The whale, lying right-side up, had what appeared to be some slight scratches but otherwise appeared lively and alert, witnesses told Local 6 News partner Florida Today.

Pigmy whales, which can grow more than 12 feet long and weigh 600 pounds, usually die when they beach themselves.

"My guess is that it will come up again sometime tonight or tomorrow," Megan Stolen, a biologist for Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in Orlando, said today. "So everybody's on standby until then."

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story. Copyright 2007 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and Local6.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos from Aquatic Surari's Hawaiina Marine Life Pygmy Sperm Whale at Wikipedia.