Date: October 30, 2017
Source: University of California - Santa Barbara
When 15 North Atlantic right
whales turned up dead in U.S. and Canadian waters in the summer of 2017, it was
declared an unprecedented mass mortality event. For a highly endangered species
with slightly more than 500 animals remaining, the crisis signals a major shift
in the population's recovery -- corresponding to a 3 percent loss.
Of the seven whales necropsied,
six deaths were caused by humans -- four by ship strike, two by fishing gear
entanglement -- and one was inconclusive. In addition to the staggering number
of deaths, scientists also are puzzled by the location where most of the whale
carcasses were discovered: Twelve were found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, well
north of the species' typical distributional range.
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