Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
SCIENCE -- April 24, 2012 at 4:22 PM EDT
Baby Dolphin Die-Offs Continue in the Gulf
<!-- START BODY COPY HERE -->By: Noreen Nasir<!-- START AUTHOR HERE -->
An unusually high number of dead dolphins - including stillborn and infant calves - have washed up along the Gulf of Mexico shores in the two years since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded into flames, unleashing tens of thousands of barrels of oil into the ocean.
More than 100 dolphin strandings already this year add to a pattern of death and disease among the marine mammals. In a normal year before the spill, about 74 strandings would be reported in the area. That number has increased eightfold in the past two years. Since February 2010, more than 600 have been found on the shores between the Louisiana-Texas border and the western coast of Florida.
And many of these dolphins have serious health problems -- lung disease, liver problems and low blood sugar -- according autopsies on the animals and other research.
More...
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/04/baby-dolphin-die-offs-continue-in-the-gulf.html
Baby Dolphin Die-Offs Continue in the Gulf
<!-- START BODY COPY HERE -->By: Noreen Nasir<!-- START AUTHOR HERE -->
An unusually high number of dead dolphins - including stillborn and infant calves - have washed up along the Gulf of Mexico shores in the two years since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded into flames, unleashing tens of thousands of barrels of oil into the ocean.
More than 100 dolphin strandings already this year add to a pattern of death and disease among the marine mammals. In a normal year before the spill, about 74 strandings would be reported in the area. That number has increased eightfold in the past two years. Since February 2010, more than 600 have been found on the shores between the Louisiana-Texas border and the western coast of Florida.
And many of these dolphins have serious health problems -- lung disease, liver problems and low blood sugar -- according autopsies on the animals and other research.
More...
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/04/baby-dolphin-die-offs-continue-in-the-gulf.html