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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