It’s rare to see humpbacks in Turnagain Arm, known for its swift tides and shallow waters.
The Seward facility began housing five seals found in the Cook Inlet area and another that was rescued in Juneau.
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 whale is located in an inaccessible place where scientists are unable to take a necropsy.
A pilot first spotted the whale last week. What caused the whale’s death isn’t yet known.
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.
Village wildlife observers worry that the unusual warmth of oceans off Alaska is causing problems throughout the ecosystem.
Three of the walruses had low to moderate levels of saxitoxin, while the fourth one had high levels.
An Alaska scientist challenges the so-called unexplained lesions and deaths observed among Arctic sea life in 2011 and 2012.
Pacific walruses are beaching on Northwest Alaska shores, peppered with bleeding skin legions that have been observed on dying ringed seals in Arctic Alaska, according to federal biologists.
Biologists are trying to determine what's ailing ringed seals that live off Alaska's Arctic coast. Scores of seals stranded on beaches this summer appeared to have skin lesions, and dozens have died.
Officials are encouraging the public to be safe, report polar bears in the area and never approach the animals, which can be “dangerous and unpredictable.”
With relatively calm summer weather, an Utqiagvik crew landed at least 11 beluga whales this season, Wainwright was lucky to caught 50, and Kotzebue Sound saw the second-highest harvest in more than a decade, according to local hunters.
Rare melanistic seals have been captured on camera in north Norfolk. Rangers have spotted 10 melanistic seal pups during the winter 2020-21 pupping season at Blakeney Point.
There was a slight rise in population numbers of the very rare animals last year.
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.
The peer-reviewed research published this week in the Public Library of Science suggests that 99% of the orcas studied had photographic evidence of skin lesions. Researchers evaluated photos from nearly 20,000 orca sightings from 2004 to 2016, finding that lesions — often gray patches and gray targets on the orcas' skin — generally became more prevalent over time.
A second seal pup has been rescued on Kenai Beach, marking the fourth such case for the Alaska SeaLife Center's Wildlife Response Program.
Up to 10 sperm whales have been stranded between Withernsea and Tunstall on the coast. Members of the coastguard and British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) are on the beach, between Tunstall and Withernsea, near Hull.
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