Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Supagoat]

Hey toady,

While I agree that it shouldn't be normal for whales to beach themselves, I hope you do retain that as part of their behavior to beach themselves since they do it  with some frequency in real life.

[Redd]

The Final Solution

[DrMorbly]

Or keep them entertained with a bit of tag!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOpN_JrAD5w

I know it's not a whale, but I'm sure the principles are similar.

[ October 12, 2007: Message edited by: DrMorbly ]

[Sowelu]

Seems reasonable to me that, like in real life, whales will stay a safe distance from shore unless they're already injured.

[Jonathan S. Fox]

Injury and disease is just one of many reasons that ocean whales can become beached, and it doesn't explain cases where many live deep ocean whales are washed on shore from the same social group. It sometimes has to do with hunting patterns, whether Orcas chasing them toward land, or a fish shortage in their normal hunting area. For whatever reason, entire groups of healthy ocean whales sometimes navigate into coastal areas. When one whale in a social group gets stuck it may call for help, and the group's social cohesion and deep sea survival instincts can backfire and just result in a mass suicide. Sometimes the local underwater geography is simply too difficult for whales who are adapted to ocean navigation to understand. Complex terrain is not the biggest problem, it's shallow beaches in particular can be very dangerous if the whale isn't able to detect the slope at all, and the reflections of the "sonar pings" from the top of the water are canceling the reflections from the sand below. Coastal animals rarely have trouble, because they're better adapted to it, but perfectly healthy ocean whales can become confused and think they're swimming in deep water even as they get dangerously close to the shore.

[Faces of Mu]

/signed

I was amazed AI whales could act so unexpectedly natural! Of course, Toady didn't say how often it was happening, so perhaps the frequency could be made more natural (like, is it really rare this happens?). Imagine small coastal towns growing a whale ivory trade because of one freak event of beached whales!

[Faces of Mu]

OMG I can't wait to get swallowed by a whale as an adventurer and then starve to death as I travel along underwater in my W...! I SOOOOO bet Toady programs that in someday!

[BDR]

*You* might starve to death; *I* plan on cutting my way out or at least recreating an old Native American myth where (was it Wolf? I think it was Wolf) cuts up the heart and eats it.  

[sluissa]

Poke at the brain until you figure out how to control it just by squeezing various nerves.

[JT]

I was thinking the exact same thing, sluissa!  We should totally meet up in real life.  We could sit there awkwardly for a few minutes before we comment on the weather or something.

[Faces of Mu]

quote:Originally posted by JT:
<STRONG>I was thinking the exact same thing, sluissa!  We should totally meet up in real life.  We could sit there awkwardly for a few minutes before we comment on the weather or something.</STRONG>

Such delightfully black humour!!   :p

[Necro]

In one Scandinavian myth, a boy eats the heart of a wolf and becomes a complete arse who can't get along with anyone. He is burned to death.

Off-topic, but it's a warning to those that may eat the organs of various predators.

Nice one by the way, JT.