Dozens of dead whales discovered - scientists are puzzled
Created: 10/05/2022 10:08 am
By: Martina Lippl
A dead whale lies on the beach.
At least 13 whales have died off the coast of Argentina in recent days.
© Pablo Porciuncula/afp
The first dead whale was discovered a week ago.
13 have now washed up on the coast of Argentina.
Researchers are alarmed.
Puerto Madryn – It's just sad.
13 dead whales have been discovered off the coast of Argentina.
The first dead whale was sighted off the coast of Punta Pardelas on September 24, according to the Instituto de Conservacion de Ballenas (ICB).
Less than seven days later, the institute recorded at least 13 dead marine mammals – twelve adults and one half-adult.
Argentina: Dead whales washed ashore – researchers puzzle over the cause of death
The scientists are currently concerned about the unusually high number.
The dead whales are towed away by boat and examined in detail.
The ICB team says it is working with the Southern Right Whale Health Monitoring Program (PMSBFA) and other experts.
The whale experts rack their brains about the cause of death of the marine mammals, which weigh more than 50 tons.
Because the whales are apparently neither injured nor starving.
“None of the whales studied so far showed signs of traumatic injury or entanglement.
All were in very good nutritional status, with evidence of intestinal contents in some specimens, suggesting that they had recently foraged in the gulf," said Agustina Donini, program area coordinator, according to a press release.
Dead whales washed ashore in Argentina.
A dead whale is dragged off shore.
© Maxi Jonas / dpa
Sea pollution cause of dead whales?
"Events with an unusually high number of adult whale deaths in a short period of time and in the same area can be indicators of local environmental variables that contribute to cetacean deaths," said Dr.
Marcela Uhart, co-director of the Southern Right Whale Health Monitoring Program, according to the release.
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First of all, however, there are still no answers as to the possible causes of the deaths.
The number of dead right whales is still lower than in 2021, but it is "worrying that the deaths have been recorded in such a short time." According to the ICB report, a total of 45 dead southern right whales were recorded in 2021;
including 13 adults, seven juveniles and 25 calves born in the season.
Southern right whales: Whales with a rounded body and a powerful head
The whales are so-called southern right whales (Eubalaena australis), a genus of right whales.
The right whales were also referred to as "right whales" by the English whalers
WWF website: "They were the 'right whales' for whaling - slow swimmers who lived mostly near shore, yielded lots of oil and blubber, and whose carcasses floated to the sea's surface after the hunt.
Accordingly, northern and southern right whales were hunted to the brink of extinction in the 19th and 20th centuries.” The stocks have since recovered.
According to the WWF, the right whales are on average 15 meters long and weigh 50 to 56 tons.
They have a huge head, flippers about two meters long and baleens that are over two meters long.
Northern and southern right whales feed primarily on copepods.
An orca wandered around the Seine in France for several weeks in 2022.
Then sailors spotted the whale lifeless in the river.
In the summer, helpers then fought for the life of a beluga whale that had strayed from the arctic waters to the warm climes of the Seine.
(ml)