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How Many Whales Have Been Killed By Lightning In The History of the Earth?

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03-26-2009 , 11:55 PM

#51

ohead

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this is the greatest thread

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03-27-2009 , 12:02 AM

#52

Fat-not-Thin Man

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 3,797

all of them

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03-27-2009 , 12:36 AM

#53

bluef0x

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I still want the OP to explain the 1:1000...

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03-27-2009 , 12:51 AM

#54

Senor Cardgage

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Dynasty

Whales evolved from land animals. Do we get to count these distant land-dwelling ancestors as whales?

Pakicetid

If these guys count, the # goes way up.

BTW, the first time I learned whales evolved from land animals, it blew my mind.

I was going to bring something up along these lines.

If whales and other sea animals dive to avoid the surface during electrical storms, and this tendency is a product of natural selection, then it's possible that many older whale ancestors didn't have this safety mechanism. I guess the problem comes with how long ago this was and whether we would classify them as whales.

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03-27-2009 , 12:55 AM

#55

Landonfan

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bluef0x

I still want the OP to explain the 1:1000...

I think he meant the odds were 1:1000 that a whale has been killed by lightning at any point in the history of whales, not that the odds of any individual whale being killed by lightning are 1:1000

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03-27-2009 , 12:56 AM

#56

Landonfan

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Senor Cardgage

If whales and other sea animals dive to avoid the surface during electrical storms, and this tendency is a product of natural selection, then it's possible that many older whale ancestors didn't have this safety mechanism. I guess the problem comes with how long ago this was and whether we would classify them as whales.

Did you ever consider that maybe God just put them on the Earth with that safety mechanism already intact?

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03-27-2009 , 01:00 AM

#57

kioshk

Nixonian

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 92,825

After millions of years of evolution, the long metal rods protruding from the backs of whales have grown progressively smaller, so that now they are barely noticeable, except to their closest whale friends.

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03-27-2009 , 01:06 AM

#58

Junko

formerly Mason Hellmuth

Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1,546

This reminds me of my last job interview. Thanks a ****in' lot Josem.

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03-27-2009 , 01:09 AM

#59

shemp

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Quote:

Originally Posted by kerowo

Damn. I opened this thread to post this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by catmiami

Unlikely.

Any mammal or fish that lives in water can sense an electrical storm and will go deep to stay out of harms way. When lightning hits an open body of water (ocean) most of the charge is absorbed within the first few metres.

And yet the correct answer is 7.

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03-27-2009 , 01:17 AM

#60

Buzz

gramps

Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 18,254

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brocktoon

If you had an olympic size swimming pool full of people, some under the water and some on the surface, lightning hitting the pool would kill everyone instantly right? Is there a man made pool big enough for this not to be the case?

I don't know how many whales have been killed by lightning strikes. I know that people are advised to not go swimming during a thunderstorm because of the danger of lightning. And I know that people swimming in pools have been killed by lightning.

Buzz

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03-27-2009 , 01:17 AM

#61

bluef0x

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Landonfan

I think he meant the odds were 1:1000 that a whale has been killed by lightning at any point in the history of whales, not that the odds of any individual whale being killed by lightning are 1:1000

lol @ setting those odds and then picking 1

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03-27-2009 , 01:23 AM

#62

markksman

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http://www.learner.org/jnorth/www/jn...881603747.html

Quote:

Q. Do whales ever get hit by lightning? A. No one that I have asked has ever heard of such a case - - but that's not to say that it has never happened.

The internet says no.

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03-27-2009 , 02:10 AM

#63

CheckRaise

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catmiami wins this thread

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03-27-2009 , 02:18 AM

#64

Bulletproof Monk

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03-27-2009 , 02:25 AM

#65

MicroBob

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Tsunami type storm including some lightning hits somewhere and there's a beached whale. It's dying...it's almost dead...there's lightning all around. If a lightning strike finishes off said whale then this still qualifies.

Strange to me that if lightning even directly hits a whale as it's coming up for air the whale would be unaffected if it's just floating in the water like that but that's what it seems to be according to the articles as best I can understand them.

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03-27-2009 , 02:42 AM

#66

Alobar

Born Ready

Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 42,368

josem soooo much

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03-27-2009 , 03:01 AM

#67

Yeti

Abominable

Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 23,208

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brocktoon

http://www.thethinkingblog.com/2008/...g-pool-on.html

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03-27-2009 , 04:35 AM

#68

Golden_Rhino

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Grunch

Could a lightning strike actually kill a whale? I mean, people have survived it, so I would imagine a whale would be more likely to survive. Following this train of though, I will say that no whales in the history of the universe have been killed by lightning.

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03-27-2009 , 04:41 AM

#69

2/325Falcon

Conehead

Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 21,907

Do not GIS for whale nipple. It's gross.

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03-27-2009 , 04:56 AM

#70

SEABEAST

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 5,676

definitely a question for the ages

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03-27-2009 , 05:00 AM

#71

Alobar

Born Ready

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Quote:

Originally Posted by 2/325Falcon

Do not GIS for whale nipple. It's gross.

is it worse than GIS for "disturbing"?

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03-27-2009 , 05:03 AM

#72

27AllIn

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if it's at all possible then it's probably happened a lot considering whales have been around for millions of years, right? I think the question is more whether it's possible.

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03-27-2009 , 05:05 AM

#73

2/325Falcon

Conehead

Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 21,907

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alobar

is it worse than GIS for "disturbing"?

I don't know. I'm too scared to search for "disturbing" or any other medical terms like "wound."

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03-27-2009 , 05:22 AM

#74

fredd-bird

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I think zero whales have been killed by lightning. If just one whale death by lightning has been recorded, I think that the number of those killed by lightning would be much greater than just six.