An extremely rare Spade-toothed Beaked Whale Mesoplodon traversii washed ashore in Otago, providing the first chance to dissect and study such a specimen, with DNA analysis underway to confirm its species.
A juvenile fin whale stranded at Moncks Bay in Christchurch, New Zealand, has died, with recovery operations underway. Last Sunday, a pod of false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins were euthanised after becoming stranded twice on a reef near Māhia.
The rate of dead seal strandings in Maine is about three times the normal rate for the summer and is close to 60. Most of the seals that have been stranded this summer have been found dead, NOAA said. The dead seals have included gray seals and harbor seals.
Marine mammal experts are testing tissue samples for a potential common cause of the surge in carcasses found on the state's beaches this year.
Rangers discovered the whale on Saturday, the cause of death is unknown.
A massive rescue effort took place on Tuesday afternoon that lasted until sunset after five whales were discovered marooned on the shores of the west coast beach. The whales were discovered dead the morning after massive efforts by locals to save them.
The whale had earlier been spotted stranded.
The smelly carcass, identified as that of an adult male minke whale, is the second large marine animal to turn up on shore in southern Maine in the past week.
The beaches of Namibia have been filled with thousands of seal fetuses. The problem was first detected in August, when observers began to see an unusual number of abortions and prematurely killed pups on the beaches of Pelican Point. Current estimates indicate about 5,000 have died in Pelican Point alone, although the precise reasons are still unknown.
The virus was first reported among brown skua on Bird Island, off South Georgia. Since then, researchers and observers have reported mass deaths of elephant seals, as well as increased deaths of fur seals, kelp gulls and brown skua at several other sites. Researchers warn of one of ‘largest ecological disasters of modern times’ if the highly contagious disease reaches penguin colonies.
Avian flu has decimated the marine creatures on the country’s Pacific coastline and scientists fear it could be jumping from mammal to mammal
Declining fertility and rising mortality, exacerbated by fishing industry, prompts experts to warn whales could be extinct by 2040
Pods of killer whales are stalking the boats of Alaska fishermen and stealing their halibut catches, leaving the men with no fish and thousands of gallons of fuel wasted trying to flee. It’s not...
Nearly 60 polar bears have been stranded on the Arctic coast near a remote village in Russia's Far East after warm winter weather hampered their hunting routine.
Scientists are baffled by a wave of whale deaths - which saw more carcasses wash up on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland in the past month than in the previous decade.
“Last year we got several reports from tourists and scientists that they saw around six walruses dead here on the west side of Svalbard. Unfortunately, we couldn’t sample them as the dead walruses drifted away by the time we got to the place. But it’s not normal to get so many reported dead walruses in such a small area," said Christian Lydersen, senior scientist at the Norwegian Polar Institute. Now samples (collected by a Station Manager in July 2023) have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
People in southern Labrador and along Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula are being cautioned to be on the lookout for the bears, who have already begun to move north.
Researchers in Canada find that population did not bother making the 6,000km roundtrip in 2018-2019
Researchers say their absence is a stark reminder that the orcas are slowly starving to death because there is not enough Chinook salmon to sustain them.
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