The rehabilitation center in Seward doesn’t usually get bearded seals, which live much farther north.
Village wildlife observers worry that the unusual warmth of oceans off Alaska is causing problems throughout the ecosystem.
Walruses over the last decade have come to shore on the Alaska and Russia sides of the Chukchi Sea as sea ice diminishes because of global warming.
Climate change has allowed spotted seals to find new hunting grounds, but the marine mammals ultimately depend on sea ice to survive.
Looking over a longer time span, bears in the southern Beaufort Sea are now using land to an extent they haven’t used it historically,” a researcher said.
The beluga had a ruptured intestine probably related to parasites, which were found in the whale’s abdomen, lungs and kidneys, Burek said. The parasites likely led to an entanglement within a section of the intestines, leading it to rupture. “Very unusual,” Burek said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
The whale is located in an inaccessible place where scientists are unable to take a necropsy.
An alarming number of gray whales have been found dead this year from Mexico to Alaska, triggering a federal investigation into what’s causing the die-off.
NOAA is monitoring significant numbers of gray whale deaths this spring along the Pacific coast.
Washington state officials have proposed a new tack to save the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered orca population. Their idea is to boost salmon
Thinning sea ice has driven more than 50 polar bears ashore on an Arctic archipelago in northern Russia, causing chaos for the local population.
The third such bite in two years prompted a police warning in the Aleutian Islands town.
Biologists believe the 18- to 20-foot whale may be sick or injured. It’s unclear if it will be able to swim out during high tide.
Three of the walruses had low to moderate levels of saxitoxin, while the fourth one had high levels.
The herds are increasingly moving around in Bristol Bay, perhaps seeking new feeding grounds, a biologist said.
Sea ice in the Chukchi Sea disappeared far earlier than normal this spring as a result of exceptionally warm ocean temperatures.
State officials are now blaming toxoplasmosis, a parasite carried in cat feces, for the deaths of three critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals on Oahu.
An Alaska scientist challenges the so-called unexplained lesions and deaths observed among Arctic sea life in 2011 and 2012.
Warm water threatens marine habitats off the coast of BC
The notoriously difficult-to-study Pacific walrus population decreased by about half between 1981 and 1999, likely due to hunting and changes to sea-ice habitat, according to a new USGS study that is considered the most up-to-date and comprehensive so far. The Pacific walrus is being considered for Endangered Species Act protections.
All Topics
All Countries
Any Date
Apply