A dead humpback whale has washed ashore on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday that the 18-foot whale was found on Pea Island about half-mile north of Rodanthe.
A harp seal pup sits on a snow-covered beach near the town of Blanc-Sablon, Québec, in early March. Normally harp seals give birth and raise their pups on sea ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but this year’s ice coverage is at an all-time low, throwing pups’ survival into jeopardy.
As sea ice off Alaska continues its long-term vanishing trend, two seal species that depend on ice may be showing the effects in their bodies. Ribbon seals, distinctive for their black-and-white striped patterns on their fur, and spotted seals, known for their speckled coats, became thinner over time.
A roughly 25-foot gray whale washed ashore and died Wednesday on Dockweiler State Beach south of Marina Del Rey.
A walk in the woods behind Glanleam beach on Valentia Island for local man Alan Houlihan and his daughther, Muireann (Mimi) (5) on Sunday morning took a rather unusual twist when the pair spotted a walrus out on the rocks, just off the beach.
Cold stress accounts for at least 39 of the deaths, or about 10%. For 277 others, almost 70%, the cause is unknown. Biologist suspect the sea cows are starving to death as the marine mammal’s main diet of seagrass wilts under ongoing years-long ecological collapse, driven by excess algae.
The animals have been decaying on the isolated stretch of sand north of Manatee Cove Park
Rescuers were monitoring a pod of pilot whales swimming just off the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island late on Tuesday after more than a dozen of the group were killed in a mass stranding.
A humpback whale spotted off Bremer Bay late last week is believed to be the earliest sighting ever of the species on WA’s south coast. Humpback whales are usually spotted of WA's south coast in late March or early April. The whale's early appearance has prompted concerns from scientists about the lack of food stocks in Antarctica.
Record-low levels of sea ice cover in the Gulf of St. Lawrence means a greater number of seals are coming on shore and are more likely to interact with humans.
In 2020, Seal Rescue Ireland reported the highest number of strandings on record, 202 dead seal reports coming from all over the country. They think one contributing factor is climate change; an increase in the severity and frequency of storms is causing more deaths among pups, from drowning or storm related injuries.
The open ocean off Utqiagvik in fall and early winter is evidence of climate change. Remarkably, bowhead whales appear to be thriving, although there are new challenges. Kidney-worm infections have been detected in bowheads, possibly brought by other species of whales coming north. And then there are the killer whales, a natural predators of bowheads now venturing north.
All Topics
All Countries
Any Date
Apply