Infant dolphins dying in high numbers on Gulf Coast

[Rage for Order]

http://www.sunherald.com/2011/02/20/2881134/baby-dolphin-deaths-spike-on-gulf.html

Baby dolphins, some barely three feet in length, are washing up along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines at 10 times the normal rate of stillborn and infant deaths, researchers are finding.

The Sun Herald has learned that 17 young dolphins, either aborted before they reached maturity or dead soon after birth, have been collected along the shorelines.

This is the first birthing season for dolphins since the (BP Deepwater Horizon oil) spill.

Dolphins breed in the spring and carry their young for 11 to 12 months, Solangi said.

Typically in January and February, there are one or two babies per month found in Mississippi and Alabama, then the birthing season goes into full swing in March and April.

“For some reason, they’ve started aborting or they were dead before they were born,” (Moby) Solangi ( Director of the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies) said. “The average is one or two a month. This year we have 17 and February isn’t even over yet.”

Deaths in the adult dolphin population rose in the year of the oil spill from a norm of about 30 to 89, Solangi said.

Solangi is gathering tissue and organs for a thorough forensic study of the infant deaths and is cautious about drawing conclusions until the data is in, probably within a couple of weeks.

“We shouldn’t really jump to any conclusions until we get some results,” Solangi said. “But this is more than just a coincidence.”



Edited to clarify who Moby Solangi is

[SpiralHawk]

1. "We really shouldn't jump to any conclusions." - RepubliCorp Hacks

Ummm hmmmm.

[Rage for Order]

2. Sorry, I just edited the OP...

The guy who said we shouldn't jump to conclusions is the Director of the Marine Mammal Institute. He went on to say it's certainly more than a coincidence. Doubtful that he's a RepubliCorp Hack, but I can see how my OP was misleading without including the info that I added after your post

[Blue-Jay]

3. That's what happens when people reply before RTFA.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Solangi, the guy who said they shouldn't jump to any conclusions

until they get some results is not "a Republicorp hack," but is instead the director of the marine mammal institute -- that is, a scientist. Scientists don't like to jump to conclusions until they have results. While we can all easily conclude that the BP spill is behind this, science requires analysis, not assumptions.

[TheKentuckian]

6. RepubliCorp buys scientists as well. Not saying this one is up for bid but lets not pretend science

cannot be influenced by money in various ways, especially grants.

[Submariner]

8. I watched the Exxon biologist telling the public that the Exxon Valdez

spill was not as bad as everyone was making it out to be. As a biologist myself, I could see in his eyes he didn't believe what he was spewing. He adopted the company line, because he knew his job depended on it.

I got interviewed for an Idaho TV newscast explaining a snow slide that took out some topsoil on a steep slope, and my company did not like it because I admitted too much, but I was not about to be caught in a lie...for nobody. It's tough being a Liberal in a conservative company.

[nolabear]

5. My heart hurts for this world. When is enough enough?

[Curmudgeoness]

7. This is very troubling, but not unexpected. One problem

with forensic studies is that there are times when you just cannot determine a cause. And if there is no definitive cause, BP will jump on that. I can only hope that in this situation, the cause is indisputable.