The rate of dead seal strandings in Maine is about three times the normal rate for the summer and is close to 60. Most of the seals that have been stranded this summer have been found dead, NOAA said. The dead seals have included gray seals and harbor seals.
Marine mammal experts are testing tissue samples for a potential common cause of the surge in carcasses found on the state's beaches this year.
The smelly carcass, identified as that of an adult male minke whale, is the second large marine animal to turn up on shore in southern Maine in the past week.
A juvenile fin whale stranded at Moncks Bay in Christchurch, New Zealand, has died, with recovery operations underway. Last Sunday, a pod of false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins were euthanised after becoming stranded twice on a reef near Māhia.
A member of a species of critically endangered whale that is struggling with poor reproduction has been found dead off of Massachusetts.
Northern sea otters, once hunted to the brink of extinction along Alaska's Panhandle, have made a spectacular comeback.
A 52-foot fin whale carcass appeared on a San Diego beach with no clear cause of death; it was towed back to sea.
An extremely rare Spade-toothed Beaked Whale Mesoplodon traversii washed ashore in Otago, providing the first chance to dissect and study such a specimen, with DNA analysis underway to confirm its species.
The whale had earlier been spotted stranded.
A massive rescue effort took place on Tuesday afternoon that lasted until sunset after five whales were discovered marooned on the shores of the west coast beach. The whales were discovered dead the morning after massive efforts by locals to save them.
The sea lions vary in decomposition. Several had their bones exposed Monday afternoon.
The carcass of a 41-foot adult female gray whale landed at San Francisco’s Crissy Field on March 31. A second adult female was found April 3 at Moss Beach in San Mateo County. A third was found April 7 floating near the Berkeley Marina and the following day another at Muir Beach. A video of the fifth dead whale was posted on social media Friday.
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.
Rangers discovered the whale on Saturday, the cause of death is unknown.
The beaches of Namibia have been filled with thousands of seal fetuses. The problem was first detected in August, when observers began to see an unusual number of abortions and prematurely killed pups on the beaches of Pelican Point. Current estimates indicate about 5,000 have died in Pelican Point alone, although the precise reasons are still unknown.
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