Megan Gannon,
News Editor
Date: 17 April
2013 Time: 03:12 PM ET
Scientists
still don't know why nearly 1,300 sickly sea lions have beached themselves on
the shores of southern California
since the beginning of the year. However, they think some weird oceanic
phenomenon may be blocking off the sea lion pups' source of food, scientists
reported today (April 17).
The stranded
sea lions — mostly pups born last summer — are typically turning up
alive, but severely emaciated, some weighing less than 20 pounds (9 kg) when
they should be well over 50 pounds (22 kg), marine officials say.
The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared an "unusual
mortality event" last month in light of the spike in strandings. Since the
beginning of the year, 1,293 sea lions have washed ashore from San Diego County
to Santa Barbara County . That's more than five times
higher than the region's historical average of 236, averaged from the same
period of time (January through April) from 2008 to 2012, said Sarah Wilkin,
NOAA's marine mammal stranding coordinator for California .
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