Scientists have identified a new species of whale—and they say it’s already endangered. LiveScience reports that in January 2019, the body of a whale washed ashore in the Florida Everglades. Scientists initially thought the whale was a subspecies of the Bryde’s whale called Rice’s whale. Bryde’s—pronounced “broodus”—is a baleen whale species in the same category […]
Sea lions in California had been dying of a mysterious cancer for decades. Now, scientists say they have finally uncovered the likely cause: toxic chemicals from industrial trash, pesticides and oil refinery waste. A team of mammal pathologists, virologists, chemists and geneticists have concluded that sea lions with higher concentrations of DDT, PCBs and other […]
US authorities have given wildlife managers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho permission to start killing hundreds of sea lions in the Columbia River basin in hopes of helping struggling salmon and steelhead trout. The marine mammals long ago figured out that they could feast on the migrating fish where they bottleneck at dams or where […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is accepting public comments on a new plan to cull sea lions on the Columbia River, along the Oregon-Washington border, in order to benefit populations of salmon and steelhead, which have been falling in recent years. Current management policy allows up to 92 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) to […]
At least 279 dolphins have become stranded across much of the US Gulf coast since the start of February, triple the usual number, and about 98% of them have died, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said. Scientists will investigate whether lingering effects from the 2010 BP oil spill and more immediate […]
An application has been filed by The Chicago Zoological Society and the Brookfield Zoo to import three bottlenose dolphins to the United States. The dolphins are currently held at Dolphin Quest Bermuda and would either be sent the to Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, IL or to the Coral World Ocean Park in St. Thomas, U.S. […]
As they headed back toward the central California coast after fishing for slime eel in the Pacific Ocean, Sam Synstelien and Nicholas Taron made a troubling discovery: a humpback whale was entangled in a buoy’s rope, frantically trying to free itself. Synstelien immediately called the U.S. Coast Guard but was told it might take a […]
Scientists were already worried about the survival of North Atlantic right whales following a slew of tragic deaths over the past year. Now, even more concerns are being raised about the lack of calves this year. Once considered the “right” whales to kill, this species was nearly hunted to extinction. Today, there are estimated to […]