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© Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, taken under NOAA permit #26919. Funded by United States Army Corps of Engineers

Birth announcement! First right whale calf of the 2024 calving season spotted

November 29, 2023 - On November 28th, researchers from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute...
© Peter Flood

Two New England-based nonprofits awarded nearly $400k federal grant

© Peter Flood November 20, 2023 - Contact: Jake O'Neill, Conservation Law Foundation, (617) 850-1709,...
Right whale - Regina WDC

North Atlantic right whale population has stabilized

WDC attends Ropeless Consortium and North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium WDC was in Canada this...
Moana, Marineland France

Orca Moana dies suddenly at Marineland

Twelve-year old orca, Moana has died suddenly at the Marineland Antibes theme park facility in...

Virus to blame for death of rare dolphin deaths off Brazil

The deaths of dozens of endangered dolphins that have died off the coast of Brazil in just over a month, has been blamed on an a outbreak of “cetacean mobillivirus” which can damage a dolphin’s immune system, according to scientists from the School of Oceanography at the State University in Rio de Janeiro.

Nearly 200 Guiana dolphins, also known as Sotalia or gray dolphins, have been found in the worst mass death of the dolphin this decade.

Guiana dolphins grow to around 1.5 m in length and are usually found in small groups of only a few individuals. They are extremely sociable and perform impressive acrobatics, including spy hopping, lobtailing, flipper slapping, and porpoising. A closely-related species that lives in the Amazon and Orinoco rivers of South America is known as the tucuxi which is almost identical but smaller in size.

Two decades ago there were around 2,500 of these dolphins, now we are down to just 800 individuals. Despite this being a very industrial bay, researchers have found no contamination of the water to-date. Cause of death will have to be confirmed but it is possibly as a result of a disease caused by a virus or bacteria given the appearance of pox-like marks on the skin of the dolphins.

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