Health & Science

Why dolphins died off in the Gulf; Awe to nourish the soul; Screen-viewing blues; The secret allure of moss

Why dolphins died off in the Gulf

When record numbers of dead bottlenose dolphins washed ashore last year in the Gulf of Mexico, some researchers were quick to blame the 2010 BP oil spill. Now a new study suggests that the spill was just part of “a perfect storm” of events causing the unusual die-off, University of Central Florida biologist Graham Worthy tells LiveScience.com. In the first four months of 2011, 186 dolphins washed ashore in the northern Gulf, nearly half of them newborns. Most of the creatures were underweight and had thin blubber layers, suggesting that oil from the spill had left them short of healthy prey. The dead dolphins were also found to have low levels of a hormone that helps the body cope with stress and is often depleted in mammals exposed to oil. But the spill wasn’t the only difficulty these dolphins had faced: Before the well started spewing oil, in April 2010, Gulf dolphins had endured a particularly cold winter that lowered their defenses. “The final blow” came in early 2011, Worthy says, when the Mississippi River delivered unusually large amounts of very cold freshwater to Mobile Bay. That influx “assaulted” the dolphins’ fragile health, says study co-author Ruth H. Carmichael, “essentially kicking them when they were already down.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us