Why are Birds and Fish Dying

The mass deaths of birds and fish in various parts of the world over the last week or so has brought the theories of apocalypse back into the limelight with many people believing that this is a sign of the end of the world coming closer. The fact that these mysterious deaths have occurred in the first week of year 2011 adds to its mysteriousness, with many people being of firm belief that the world will end in 2012. Do we really take to ought these mass deaths of animal species as a sign of the end of the world? Is a-flock-calypse - a newly coined term used to refer to this phenomenon wherein thousands of birds and fish dying, really a prequel to apocalypse of 2012. In order to find the answer for these questions, one has to find out why are birds and fish dying in the first place. Is there any logical reason about why are birds dying? Are these deaths of birds and fish related to each other? Or is it a mere over-hyped mystery like the hoards of other mysteries making rounds of Internet.

Why are Birds and Fish Dying?

The tons of dead fish that is being washed up the shores and dead birds found lying on the roof-tops of houses across the world has left people bewildered. In the United States of America, the residents of Arkansas witnessed a weird phenomenon wherein approximately 100,000 dead drum fish were washed up the shores on the eve of New Year. What followed was even more puzzling as thousands of redwings dropped dead from the sky within a radius of one mile in Beebe, Arkansas, - with no possible reason for their death anywhere in picture. If the phenomenon of dead fish being washed up on shores was strange, the death of birds falling from sky made it even more mysterious.

Soon enough, the phenomenon of birds and fish dying went global - with similar reports coming from various other parts of the world including Italy (wherein turtle doves died in large numbers) and Sweden (wherein jackdaws met with the same fate.) Other countries like Brazil, New Zealand and England - all of which are located quite far away from each other, also witnessed similar dumbfounding occurrences. Soon enough the strange phenomenon made it to the ever hungry news channels - with each channel coming up with one probable theory as to why are birds dying or why are dead fish being washed up on shores.

Birds and Fish Dying: A Theoretical Perspective

As soon as the news about mass deaths of various animal species came in, scientists from all over the world sat down to find out the probable cause of these deaths. Even though several sources have been associating this strange phenomenon to the fact that we are inching towards the apocalypse, skeptics seem to be least impressed by this illogical reasoning. Other probable theories as to why birds and fish are dying in such large numbers range from fire works - considering that the deaths occurred on the New Years eve, to secret weapons testing by government of certain nations. Quite a few theories also revolve around weather conditions - with extreme cold being cited as one of the most prominent reason for deaths of fish and high-altitude hail to why birds are dying.

A critical evaluation of these theories does no good to this mysterious phenomenon. If fire works were to be the cause of this mass deaths, we would have surely witnessed such deaths time and again - especially on every New Year's eve and the 4th of July. Similarly, if lightning was the cause of these deaths, there would have been evidence in form of burns on their bodies for the least. The fairly even distribution of birds dying in Arkansas over a radius of one mile rules out the theory of these birds crashing into aircraft. The other theories about the possible causes of death of birds and fish also have some loopholes - thus making it clear that all these theories are not at all relevant.

Most Probable Theories about Mass Animal Deaths

That being said, there do exist some theories which cannot be ruled out totally as of now. For instance, the autopsy report of dead birds in Italy showed the presence of blue stains in their mouth which points the needle suspicion towards a probable case of poisoning. At the same time, scientists also state that these blue stains may be a sign of hypoxia - oxygen deficiency. Experts at the National Veterinary Institute in Sweden point out that the autopsy reports of birds revealed internal bleeding without any signs of external lesions. While blunt trauma is one of the most likely answer as to why birds are dying in such large numbers, it is not yet ascertained whether the blunt trauma was caused by the birds being slammed into the ground or something else. The only sign of hope in the entire case is scientists claiming that the death of birds and animals is not related to each other - but is a matter of coincidence.

Most of the answers as to why are birds and fish dying revolve around theories - none of which seem to be quite concrete as such. That being said, the mystery shrouding these mass deaths of animals will continue to remain a mystery for some time now - and during that period several new theories about these birds and fish deaths will surface. The onus will be on you whether you would want to resort to critical thinking and find out if these theories really hold ground, or give in to gullibility and go ahead with these illogical theories.

Experts say mass deaths are not rare: While many people are relating the recent occurrence of birds falling from the sky and fish being washed ashore with 2012 end of the world, wildlife experts are least amused by this alleged connection. In fact, several wildlife experts argue that such mass deaths in animals, especially in species which get together or migrate in large groups, are not at all rare. Whilst stressing on this fact, they put forth several instances wherein different species of animals have died in large numbers at particular time of the year in the past.

Such mass deaths are usually attributed to bad weather, spread of infectious disease, poisoning, etc. Eyewitnesses also state that the birds didn't fall dead from the sky, but actually died after hitting the ground. This makes way for the theory which suggests that the birds got alarmed by the fireworks on the New Years eve, and without realizing where they were heading - dashed into the ground and got killed. Very well possible, considering that all these species which have been found dead are the ones which cannot see in the dark.