adn.com | alaska : Walruses lured to their deaths
This story reminds me of Douglas Adams' falling whale. Turns out some walruses in Alaska have a similar experience:
Federal wildlife biologists have erected a 250-foot-long fence to stop walruses from accidentally plummeting off cliffs to their death on a Bristol Bay beach....
No one is sure why the Cape Peirce walruses fall.
Abraham said the shellfish-loving animals have a strong sense of smell that may lead them over the seaside cliff. They don't see well, which may not help, he added.
"(They) follow their nose -- that's my theory," he said.
It's not suicide, said MacDonald, who's watched videotapes of the falling walruses recorded during the 1990s.
Once the first go over, others follow, many dropping headfirst in a free fall to the ground, he said.
"They land on the rocks below, crush their skull, and end of story," he said.
But others do a 180 while sliding off the top, desperately try to stop as if they've made a mistake. It doesn't work, he said.
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