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The Argentine Cetacean Conservation Institute (ICB) counted 30 dead whales on the Atlantic coast in a very short time.
George Knupper and Janek Leuenberger
Golfo Nuevo near Argentina’s Valdes Peninsula is like a whale cemetery: according to the Argentine Whale Conservation Institute (ICB), 30 whales have been stranded there since September 24, four of them small animals. Everything indicates that the animals actually died at sea and were pushed ashore by the water.
Swiss Renate, 65, and Bruno Furer, 69, came across some dead whales in Golfo Nuevo at the beginning of October. the couple He has been traveling the world in a converted truck for the past 20 years. Bernese people were shocked when they saw the first whale carcass: “It was a small animal,” Renate Furer tells Blake. “Then we drove off – and on the next shore there was another dead whale!” It was then that the couple realized something was wrong. “The second dead whale is ringing alarm bells.” Finally, they discovered a third dead animal on the peninsula.
Good nutrition, no injuries
The cause of the mass extinction is not clear – the results of the carcass tests have not yet been published. Anyway, according to the ICB, the whales were fed well and were unharmed.
Experts suspect that they died due to the increased concentration of toxins in the sea caused by algae. In Argentina, this phenomenon is referred to as maría roga (red tide), because the pigment from algal blooms colors the surface of the sea red.
There have also been deaths in recent years
Depending on the concentration, algal blooms can become dangerously toxic to whales. According to local residents, this year saw an unusually large number of red tides. According to the researchers, the large number of deaths within a few days indicates that a local environmental factor is responsible.
Whale deaths have been frequent in the area in recent years. According to Mariano Cerrone, scientific director of the ICB, 45 dead whales were found in 2021. Although the number is lower this season, it is alarming that the deaths occurred in such a short period of time this time.
life on wheels: A Swiss couple has been traveling the world in a truck for 20 years(03:41)
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