30 Dolphins Stranded in Brazil; Seven Die

Thirty large dolphins were stranded in northeastern Brazil over the weekend, puzzling scientists.

According to the local media sources, 30 dolphins were stranded and seven died in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The dolphins, also known as false killer whales, were spotted Sunday on the Upanema beach in Areia Branca, situated 330 km from Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte. Beachgoers and locals helped the beached marine animals get back into the water. But seven of them didn't make it. Out of the seven dolphins one died following a shark attack after it swam back into the deep waters, according to O Globo newspaper.

The attack took place in deep waters and beachgoers were informed that the possibility of shark attacks was nil and they didn't have to fear anything.

The local biologists could not provide any immediate explanation for the beached animals but said that in such situations it is generally the pod leader that strands itself due to injury or illness. Mass stranding occurs as dolphins, social creatures, refuse to part ways from the injured or sick pod leader and follow the sick dolphin into shallow waters, Nature World News.

The other possibility, the biologists explain, might be that the dolphins were following a school of fish and eventually got trapped on the high sand banks of Upanema beach.

In recent decades this is one of the largest collective beaching in Brazil. In 1991 nearly 19 whales were stranded in the town of Sao Miguel do Gostoso, reports O Globo.

Last year,  thirty dolphins  beached themselves in Rio de Janeiro where the beachgoers decided to save them and dragged them back into the waters.