▶ Your Answer : There is ample support for author's claim that there are three causes of whale stranding. However, professor in the lecture gives several reasons as a rebuttal to the author's claim. First, professor argues that the author didn't account for the fact that whale strandings take place around the world where there are variety of wind patterns. Professor says that whales ofen come to eastern coast of the United States, where the wind blows toward the opposite direction of land. This casts doubt on the author's argument that whale strandings are caused by wind patterns, which push cold water and carries whale's prey animals and make whales follow the flow of water to feed themselves. Second, professor contends that perfectly healthy whales also become stranded. Professor says that if humans push whales back into the water, whales swim back to the sea on their own. If whales were sick, they won't be able to swim back. This refutes the author's suggestion that whale strandings are due to whale's illness, which makes whale weak and unable to swim and thus whales are pushed closer to the shore by currents and waves. Lastly, professor insists that all whales use same sonar system to detect but some whales become stranded while others don't. If whales have similar or same sonar system, it is strange that only a few whales are stranded. This counters the author's assertion that whales are stranded because of geological features of certain coastlines. It said that ocean floor adjacent to beaches tend to have more gentle slopes, so it makes hard for whales to detect them. |