Slideshow: Solving a Gray Whale Murder Mystery

One way to investigate the record-setting deaths of the marine mammals is to perform autopsies on them, but researchers are also taking a close look at living whales for clues to what could be killing them.

Ashley Yeager

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ABOVE: Researchers investigate the death of a gray whale that washed up at Angel Island State Park, California, in the spring of 2019.
CARA FIELD / © THE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER UNDER NOAA FISHERIES MARINE MAMMAL HEALTH AND STRANDING RESPONSE PROGRAM PERMIT 18786-03

More than 360 gray whales have washed ashore in less than two years, leading researchers to ask what might be causing their demise. Autopsying the dead animals and watching live whales on their migration routes suggest that there may not be a single culprit. Instead, a combination of interacting factors, including ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, killer whale attacks, a balloon in population, and climate change, may be causing the uptick in gray whale deaths.

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Meet the Author

Ashley Yeager
Ashley started at The Scientist in 2018. Before joining the staff, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, a writer at the Simons Foundation, and a web producer at Science News, among other positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT. Ashley edits the Scientist to Watch and Profile sections of the magazine and writes news, features, and other stories for both online and print.
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