While the stench of a dead, bloated killer whale that’s washed ashore might steer away your average beachgoer, for Stephen Raverty of the Ministry of Agriculture in Canada it’s an invitation to collect data. Raverty, a veterinary pathologist, carefully examines each one he’s called to dissect, knowing that they retain invaluable information about the overall health of orcas in the Pacific ocean. Raverty says the data on killer whale deaths give clues to what factors might be keeping the Pacific populations on the endangered and threatened species lists.
For decades, researchers have been performing necropsies on beached orcas, but, until now, no one has amassed all of those data to assess the health of the populations and whether human activities, such as fishing or shipping, may harm the animals. In a study published this month in PLOS ONE, Raverty, veterinarian Joseph Gaydos of the University of California, Davis, and colleagues ...
