The Nation - News from Dec. 9, 1986

A maternal search for food, foul weather and the “great natural trap” of Cape Cod’s geography may have caused a beaching of pilot whales last week, marine biologists said in Boston. The beaching of about 54 whales, of which about 26 died, was preceded by gale-force winds and an unusually high tide, said Greg Early, New England Aquarium assistant curator and rescue team leader. Most of the whales were calves or adult females who wanted to increase their strength by “aggressive foraging” in risky areas, he said.