Authorities are gathering images and information to coordinate helping an entangled humpback in Unalaska’s Iliuliuk Bay.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Locals in Kotzebue showed a mix of excitement and concern over the weekend in response to reports that a rare polar bear was spotted in the area.
Before she knew what was happening, a large female killer whale lifted Bloom’s paddleboard up out of the water. “And at that moment it was like terror,” Bloom said.
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.
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.
The Coast Guard reported the dead 47-foot female humpback to NOAA on Sunday evening. It had washed ashore on the south end of Kruzof Island. The whale looked healthy and its belly was full of fish — most likely herring. But they did find some evidence of blunt trauma.
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.
Biologist Jessica Crance witnessed both sightings personally, and is among a handful of living people who have seen one of this population of right whales up close since the species was devastated by commercial whaling.
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.
Two dead whales have washed up on Unalaska's shores in the past week: an adult fin whale — which is the second largest mammal in the world — and a juvenile humpback.
A killer whale that beached itself on Prince of Wales Island on Thursday has freed itself, according to federal biologists.
“For the killer whales, I honestly don’t know if this is normal or not,” said Mandy Keogh, the Regional Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator for NOAA Fisheries in Alaska. Dead killer whales simply aren’t seen that often.
Three dead gray whales washed up on two different Kodiak Island beaches recently. The strandings happened within the span of a week.
“I think it was a little more stable, and there was a little bit more assurance that the ice you were on was not going to disintegrate on you that easy,” said whaling captain Gordon Brower.
In Southwest Alaska, a tired crew of volunteers on Saturday night, dragged a large whale’s carcass onto shore near Napaskiak’s airport. The whale was grey, bloody and barnacled, and the men who set to work butchering it said it was at least 37-feet long. Residents are still distributing its blubber and meat, saying it will feed families throughout the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta for months.
Climate change may be responsible for pushing Alaska’s Gray Whales up into estuaries and rivers like the Kuskokwim.
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