Mystery behind why 2,000 gray whales died on the same coast has finally been solved

Scientists believe they have finally solved the mystery of why 2,000 gray whales tuned up dead off the Pacific coast.

Gray whales make the longest journey of any mammal on Earth, travelling a whopping 12,000 miles every year from their summer homes of the Arctic, to the lagoons of Mexico's Baja Peninsula for the winter.

Way back in 1986, gray whale populations made a rather impressive comeback from what appeared to be the brink of extinction for the species.

This came after the the International Whaling Commission issued an all-out ban on commercial whaling.

But since then, researchers have tracked a number of mysterious deaths surrounding the sea mammals, leading to more confusion amongst scientists.

The number of gray whales washed up dead on the Pacific coast has reached alarming rates ever since 2019, with scientists stumped as to what may have caused them.

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For decades, marine researchers had speculated the decrease was a result of gray whales' post-ban population boom, leading to a new equilibrium within the northern Pacific food chain.

However, new research suggest that the standings from Mexico all the way to Alaska are due to an 'unusual mortality event', which might be the result of shrinking Arctic ice, subsequently reducing the stock of whales preferred food such as scuds and shrimp.

So essentially, these thousands of whales to have washed up on the shores in recent years have likely starved to death as the ecosystem they rely on so much has dwindled beneath them.

The latest die-off has led to the population of gray whales plummeting from an estimated 27,000 in 2016 to 14,500 in 2023, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The latest findings as to why we have lost some 2,000 gray whales in recent years was published on Thursday (18 October) in the journal Science.

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Joshua Stewart, an assistant professor at the Marine Mammal Institute and lead author of the study, said in an Oregon State University press release: "These are extreme population swings that we did not expect to see in a large, long-lived species like gray whales.

"When the availability of their prey in the Arctic is low, and the whales cannot reach their feeding areas because of sea ice, the gray whale population experiences rapid and major shocks."

He continued: "Even highly mobile, long-lived species such as gray whales are sensitive to climate change impacts. When there are sudden declines in the quality of prey, the population of gray whales is significantly affected."

While we may not have to worry about extinction like yesteryear, we should certainly get use to the idea of a smaller population of gray whales.