‘We have never seen this’: scientists baffled by behaviour of pilot whales before WA mass stranding

A pod of long-finned pilot whales stranded on Cheynes beach east of Albany in Western Australia. A rescue is under way to save almost 50 of the mammals. Photograph: Narelle Towie/The Guardian

Officials are baffled by the remarkable behaviour of a large pod of pilot whales that grouped together in a heart shape before stranding themselves on a remote Western Australian beach.

Drone footage captured the moment the pod of almost 100 long-finned pilot whales moved tightly together before stranding themselves at Cheynes beach about 60km east of Albany on Tuesday evening.