Sad news for cute things: Baby dolphins are dying in record numbers in Gulf Coast area. Typically this time of year yields one or two deaths, but this January and February there have been 24 baby bottlenose dolphin deaths.
The all-too-appropriately named Moby Solangi is the executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies and says that researchers aren’t sure what’s causing it. But maybe it was last year’s BP spill? It is the first birthing season since millions of gallons of oil and toxins were dumped into the gulf. “Unfortunately we don’t have a smoking gun here” said Solangi.” We’re looking at the possibility of an algal bloom but we don’t see any evidence of a bloom going on in the water. Temperatures are a bit cooler, so we’re looking into water temperature data and seeing if that has a role, but it’s a little bit too early to tell.”
Or it was, you know, the BP spill.
