Jackie Gock, age 10, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for his question:

Why do whales commit suicide?

Jackie was told that a group of whales came ashore and perished because they wanted to commit suicide. There are reliable reports that sometimes an ocean going whale does appear in shallow water or even on a beach    where he soon dies. But he had no intention of killing himself.

We all have heard about the little lemmings who are said to commit suicide by plunging into the sea. But like all animals, they tend to die by accident or sickness; some are killed and a few die of old age. So far as we know, all the animals face their problems with courage. They are too brave to think of suicide when things go wrong. A whale is so heavy that his great body needs to be supported by water. If he gets trapped in shallow water or on a beach, he dies because his insides are crushed by the weight of his huge body. You can be sure that he did not want this tragedy to happen.