So many gray whales are dying off the U.S. West Coast that scientists and volunteers dealing with the putrid carcasses have an urgent request for coastal residents: Lend us your private beaches so these ocean giants can rot in peace. The number of dead whales ...
NOAA Fisheries biologists record singing by rare right whale
Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have recorded singing by a rare right whale for the first time. Researchers used moored acoustic recorders to capture patterned calls made by male North Pacific right whales. Researchers detected four distinct songs over eight years at five ...
U.S. government biologists have launched a special investigation into the deaths of at least 70 gray whales washed ashore in recent months along the U.S. West Coast, from California to Alaska, many of them emaciated, officials said on Friday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ...
Link to stress, health of whales might be found in giant mouths
Whale researchers in New England believe they've found a new way to measure the amount of stress felt by whales when they experience traumas such as entanglements in fishing gear, and they say the technique could help protect the massive sea creatures from extinction. The ...
Whaling fleet leaves for north Japan waters in last ostensibly scientific mission before IWC exit
Four whaling vessels left a port in Miyagi Prefecture on Thursday to take part in the last of what the government calls a scientific research program before the country's exit from the International Whaling Commission at the end of June. The ships, which left the ...
Whaling vessel leaves Taiji port for last 'scientific' mission before Japan withdraws from IWC
A whaling vessel left the port of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, on Friday for the last mission of what the government calls a scientific research program before the country withdraws from the International Whaling Commission and starts commercial whaling from July. The No. 7 Katsu Maru ...
Climate change forcing Arctic seals and whales to shift feeding habits
Seals and whales in the Arctic are shifting their feeding patterns as climate change alters their habitats, and the way they do so may determine whether they survive, a new study has found. Researchers harnessed data sets spanning two decades to examine how two species ...
Russia orders firms to free captive orca, Belugas held in Far East 'whale prison'
Russian authorities have ordered the release of nearly 100 whales held captive in cages in Russia's Far East in a case that has drawn the ire of President Vladimir Putin, the public and international film stars, TASS news agency said on Thursday. Images of the ...
Iceland gives industry the OK to hunt up to 2,130 fin and minke whales over five years
Iceland's whaling industry will be allowed to keep hunting whales for at least another five years, killing up to 2,130 baleen whales under a new regulation issued by the Nordic nation's government. The five-year whaling policy was up for renewal when Fisheries Minister Kristjan Juliusson ...
Decompression sickness linked to naval sonar is behind whales' mass strandings, experts say
Scientists have long known that some beaked whales beach themselves and die in agony after exposure to naval sonar, and now they know why: the giant sea mammals suffer decompression sickness, just like scuba divers. At first blush, the explanation laid out Wednesday by 21 ...
Seeking quieter waters, humpback whales may be breeding farther north around Tokyo's Hachijo Island
Japanese researchers now believe it is possible that the northernmost breeding region for humpback whales has shifted far northward to around Tokyo's Hachijo Island. Waters off the island of Kagoshima Prefecture's Amami Oshima, some 500 kilometers south of Hachijo Island, have been known as the ...
The U.S. government Friday took a big step toward opening oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean by approving seismic airgun tests that experts warn are harmful to dolphins and whales. Last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to expand offshore drilling, ...
