More than 300 southern right whale calves have died in waters off Argentina since June, alongside several dead adults and juveniles. While calf mortality typically ranges between 20% and 30%, this year's tally has nearly tripled the previous high of 113 deaths recorded in 2012. Researchers counted 1,375 whales, including 409 calves, in the breeding area during a September survey as they continued collecting samples. Investigators are actively testing whether shifts in salinity, ocean temperature, and pH are increasing the animals' susceptibility to the bacterial pathogen.
Key points
Preliminary lab tests indicate the bacterium *Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae* is causing th…: Preliminary lab tests indicate the bacterium *Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae* is causing the severe organ and skin damage.
Researchers hypothesize that kelp gulls pecking at surfacing whales create wounds that al…: Researchers hypothesize that kelp gulls pecking at surfacing whales create wounds that allow the deadly bacteria to enter.
Scientists are investigating whether climate change, El Niño, and altered ocean condition…: Scientists are investigating whether climate change, El Niño, and altered ocean conditions made the calves more vulnerable to infection.
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What is causing so many whales to lose their lives and wash up on shore is a question scientists are now desperately hoping to answer. Every year, the sheltered waters along Argentina's Patagonian coastline become a nursery for southern right whales, as mothers arrive to give birth and raise their young. However, as Smithsonian Magazine has reported, both juvenile and adult whales have been washing up dead on shore.
But this year, the waters around the Peninsula Valdés have become the site of an alarming wildlife concern, with more than 300 whale calves reported dead since June. While the complete tally will only be carried out by the end of the season, this number is nearly 3 times the previously recorded deaths of 113 in 2012.
The scale of the losses has raised concerns among researchers monitoring the species, particularly because the cause of the unusually high mortality remains only partly understood. Preliminary findings point toward a bacterial infection, but scientists are still trying to determine why a bacterium already known to affect these whales appears to have become so…
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