Infant dolphins, possibly still born, are washing up on Gulf beaches less than one year after the April 20, Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded precipitating one of the greatest ecological disasters of our time.
Baby dolphins, some barely 3 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 [18] young dolphins, either aborted before they reached maturity or dead soon after birth, have been collected along the shorelines.
The Institute of Marine Mammal Studies performed necropsies, animal autopsies, on two of the babies Monday. Moby Solangi, director of the institute, called the high number of deaths an anomaly and said it is significant, especially in light of the BP oil spill throughout the spring and summer last year.
Oil worked its way into the Mississippi and Chandeleur sounds and other bays and shallow waters where dolphins breed and give birth.
This is the first birthing season for dolphins since the spill.
Dolphins breed in the spring and carry their young for 11 to 12 months, Solangi said.
Necropsy and toxicology studies are being performed to determine whether chemicals used in the dispersant used to break up the oil may have contributed to the deaths. ABC News files this report.
A total of 24 of the young dolphins been found dead in the last couple weeks, including five in the past 24 hours. Marine mammal researchers fear it will only get worse.
“I believe this is very very unusual what we’re dealing with. It’s a tenfold increase in calves that are dying,” Moby Solangi, the head of the Mississippi based Institute for Marine Mammal Research, told ABC News. “Every year, we get one or two babies that die. Now, we’re seeing stillborn, or preemies dying.”
“With some, we’re not sure if they actually took a breath,” said Dr. Delphine Shannon, also of the IMMR.
The gestation period for bottlenose dolphins is between 11 and 12 months. “That means the mothers would have conceived between March and May. If the mothers are delivering their calves now and many are dying, that is significant,” Solangi said.
