ALT spencer @Unpop Science: 2/18/23 As they hardly eat elsewhere, the mass starvation of these whales points to turmoil in their feeding grounds: the Bering Sea, ground zero for major climate shifts and mass collapses of marine life under relentless industrial fishing, with the complicity of government regulators.

ALT Findings of the Investigation Necropsy findings from a subset of dead whales supported malnutrition as a common cause of death and did not identify underlying infections. Additionally, the nutritional condition of live gray whales in Mexico was poorer leading into and during the UME compared to prior years. The UME Investigative Team concluded that localized ecosystem changes, including both access to and quality of prey, in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas contributed to the poor nutritional condition observed in live and stranded gray whales. This malnutrition led to increased mortality during the whales’ annual northward migration (from Mexico to Alaska) and decreased production of calves. This resulted in an overall decline in population abundance.

ALT juvenile whooping crane laden with at least five different tags and tracking devices