Animals do some really strange things, but the strangest thing that they do is intentionally kill themselves.  Whales repeatedly beach themselves, dolphins turn violent, and in Russia, starfish have been beaching themselves by the hundreds along the Pacific coast.  The resulting images are spectacular, but also kind of heartbreaking.

The English Russia article doesn’t offer much in the way of details as to why they do this, but apparently this isn’t the first time that’s happened in Russia.  I found a BBC article detailing a previous event in 2004, which also mentions events going back as far as 1990.   While the White Sea is on the other side of the country, mass fish kills aren’t as rare as they once were.  It might be a dumping of toxins in the ocean, some kind of seasonal thing, or just a random event.  Nature is weird, and fish are the weirdest of all.

Tags: Russia, Pacific Ocean, starfish, starfish beaching themselves, unusual images, nature, nature photographs

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