Several hundred Pacific walruses have started to gather on an island off the northwest coast of Alaska — the earliest the animals have been observed leaving the water for the annual ritual, according to federal wildlife officials.
The Arctic barrier island where the carcasses were found has emerged as a favored end-of-summer haulout for animals trying to survive without summer sea ice.
Thinning sea ice puts walruses nearly out of reach. The federal government may list walruses as an endangered species. And ivory bans elsewhere are making it hard for walrus-tusk carvers to sell their art.
A parasite-riddled seal afraid of the water is the first Alaska marine mammal rescued in 2017. The seal will not be returned to the wild if it continues to survive rehabilitation at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward.
It's not yet clear what led to the humpback’s death or where it died, and biologists are warning people to stay away from the carcass.
On June 19, some kids spotted an unrecognized creature the size of a large whale offshore near the Alaska village of Iliamna. Other accounts followed.
Alaskans from St. Lawrence Island were hospitalized with the food-borne parasite trichinella, which used to more typically infect pork. The CDC and state public health officials issued warnings.
Kachemak Bay has witnessed massive die-offs of sea stars, murres and razor clams. Whats going on?
Harju said that due to its long tusks, she guessed that it was an older walrus, adding that the animal was calm during the hour that she watched it lay on the beach.
There was a slight rise in population numbers of the very rare animals last year.
The highly pathogenic influenza that just claimed its first known polar bear victim continues to circulate in the world’s wild populations.
A wayward walrus calf, just one month old, was rescued from the North Slope. Workers on the North Slope spotted the baby walrus on tundra, about four miles inland from the Beaufort Sea.
The female seal pup — estimated to be around six months old — was seen swimming “erratically” near the shore in Sitka last month, according to a press release from the center. Worried Sitka residents then reported the pup to the center’s 24-hour stranding hotline.
Officials have been receiving reports of Steller sea lions hauling out on beaches in poor condition, but have been unable to retrieve the animals for research — largely because they are in remote areas.
Alaska wildlife officials collaborated with whale experts to successfully rescue a humpback whale that was entangled in crabbing gear off the coast of Gustavus, Alaska, preventing it from dying.
The article describes a Utqiagvik family's significant milestone in catching the first bowhead whale of the spring season, amidst challenges posed by climate change affecting sea ice stability.
In an unusual event, a pair of beluga whales swam about 60 miles up the Kuskokwim River to Bethel. After word got out, boaters pursued the belugas and took at least one of them. Now, an official is working to collect samples of the animal to better understand where it came from.
A rare, emaciated fin whale was found dead near Kodiak, Alaska, with the local Sun'aq Tribe conducting a necropsy. There isn’t enough data for biologists to declare a trend yet, but these whales are being found on the heels of an unusual mortality event for gray whales in the Pacific Ocean.
Authorities are gathering images and information to coordinate helping an entangled humpback in Unalaska’s Iliuliuk Bay.
A humpback whale found dead near Kodiak Island in Alaska undergoes the state's first whale necropsy of 2023 in an effort to determine the cause of death and understand the shrinking humpback population in the area, with initial findings suggesting the whale may have been struck by a boat.
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