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Dominica announces new protections for sperm whales

Dominica has placed almost 800 square kilometers of sea off the west coast of the...
Commerson's dolphin

New Important Marine Mammal Areas added to global ocean conservation list

Commerson's dolphin Experts from a number of countries have mapped out a new set of...
Vaquita. Photo Thomas Jefferson

Scientific Committee gives first ever official species extinction warning

Photo: Thomas Jefferson We have welcomed the urgent call by experts to protect the vaquita...
blue whale

Whale fossil from Peru may have been heavier than blue whale

Scientists examining the bones of a 39 million-year-old ancient whale have concluded that it may...

BP oil disaster affects dolphin birth rates five years on

New research has revealed that dolphins living an area affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are now struggling to give birth to young.

The US government study looked closely at the population of common bottlenose in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, an area that was covered in slicks at the time of the disaster. Scientists tracked the health of the population for four years, including 10 pregnant dolphins. Only two of the dolphins went on to give birth to calves.

Previous government-led studies have shown diseases found in dolphins around the Barataria Bay area were consistent with exposure to oil. These include lung disease and hormonal abnormalities, and of those dolphins studied by the scientists, up to 17% were expected to die of illness related to oil pollution.