London - The death of 26 dolphins on the south-west coast of Britain remained a mystery Tuesday as post-mortem examinations on the mammals revealed no clues as to the cause of the mass stranding, experts said. The examinations on seven of the animals showed that they appeared to have been well-fed and revealed no obvious signs of disease or poisoning.
"It's quite unprecedented, we never had anything of this magnitude," said veterinary pathologist Vic Simpson, who performed some of the post-mortem tests.
More than 30 of the ocean-going dolphins were beached in shallow creeks on the Percuil river near Falmouth, in Cornwall, Monday, and only seven were saved by rescuers.
With the search for food was likely to be ruled out as a possible motive for the mammals' behaviour, experts are now investigating the possibility that they were chased by a predator or scared by man-made underwater noise, such as sonar or mining.
"My own personal conclusion is that there was some sort of disturbance that caused the animals to panic," said Alan Knight, chairman of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).
