Solar storms could have killed almost 30 whales by affecting their ability to navigate, new research claims.
The sperm whales got lost in the North Sea and died on beaches in the UK, Holland and Germany early last year.
Whales are thought to navigate using Earth’s magnetic field.
But it’s possible that solar storms like the kind responsible for the Northern Lights could disorientate them, researchers in Kiel, Germany, said.
In the open sea, scientists believe the animals switch to a more reliable navigation system if they realize they are heading the wrong way.
But young males make their way north towards the polar region, attracted by masses of squid, when they’re between 10 and 15 years old.
Experts say the “naive” whales became lost in the southern Norwegian Sea and stranded in the shallow North Sea.
Dr. Klaus Vanselow, from the University of Kiel, Germany and his colleagues believe that the 29 deaths between December 2015 and January could have been triggered by solar storms recorded over the same period.