World News for Students of English

29-09-2020 07:00

Almost 400 pilot whales have died after the worst mass stranding in Australia’s history.

A rescue operation successfully saved 50 of the 500 whales stranded off Tasmania’s remote west coast, and rescuers were racing against time to save another 30 animals.

According to Vanessa Pirotta, a marine scientist, pilot whales are very social animals, and they are found in large groups, also known as pods. The stranding is one of the largest globally, and in this case, some individuals may have traveled in the wrong way, and the pod became stuck and stranded.

Tasmania is the only part of Australia that is prone to mass stranding. The last incident occurred in 2009, and it involved about 200 pilot whales.

Difficult words: mass stranding (a situation when whales or dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach), pod (a large group of whales or other marine mammals), prone (likely to do or experience something).

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