December 24,  2008



Two more whales – both juveniles -- have washed up on Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches, bringing the number of beached whales on the seashore this month to three.

However, so far, scientists and officials investigating the deaths do not see common factors that tie the deaths of these two whales with a newborn right whale calf that washed ashore alive this month and was euthanized.

A live pilot whale was beached at Avon on Friday, Dec. 19.

According to Karen Clark, education specialist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the whale was a juvenile, about 8 feet long, and was independent from its mother.

The animal was sedated, Clark said, to make it more comfortable and then died on its own on the beach.  It has been frozen for a necropsy at a later date.

Then on Sunday, Dec. 21, the National Park Service, responding to a call, dragged a dead humpback whale out of the surf near Cape Point.

Clark said the whale -- also a juvenile, a male about 2 years old -- was 30.5 feet long and had been dead between a few weeks and a month.

Clark said that officials from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington examined the animal and took samples.  On Monday, Dec. 22, the Park Service buried the whale on the beach.

These two beached whales come just after a newborn right whale beached itself north of Avon on Tuesday, Dec. 16.  The young whale, which measured about 15 feet, died after a separation from its mother, Park Service officials said.

A necropsy on the beach on Dec. 17, showed no signs of any human interference, reported Gretchen Lovewell, marine mammal stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but the scientists did discover several gastrointestinal issues, including kinks and twists in the intestines, probably present since birth, which, because of potential complications with feeding and waste elimination, could have led to the separation.

Samples from the newborn right whale taken during the necropsy have been shared among many researchers and scientists who are trying to find out more about this “very endangered” species.

“At this point in time,” Clark said, “we haven’t seen any commonality” to connect the three whale deaths.

There is no indication, she said, that any of the three whales died from “fisheries interaction” – being struck by boats or caught in nets.

---

December 17,  2008 Scientists and researchers from near and far gathered on a Cape Hatteras National Seashore beach on Wednesday morning, Dec. 17, for a rare opportunity to perform a necropsy on a newborn right whale that washed up alive on the beach the day before and later was euthanized.

On Tuesday morning, Dec. 16, Michelle Bogardus, lead sea turtle biologist with the National Park Service, responded to a call about a live whale that had beached itself north of Avon.

When she arrived at the site, she knew almost immediately that the whale, which she determined to be a male, North Atlantic Right Whale, no more than a week old, was in pretty bad shape, and would have to be euthanized.

 The ultimate cause of death, she explained, was separation from the mother, and though the reasons behind the separation remained a mystery, it was clear that there was simply no way that the calf, because of its young age and condition, would be able to survive without its mother. 

Bogardus also knew that this particular stranding, while certainly sad, presented a rare and exciting opportunity to researchers in the field of marine mammalogy. This stranded calf was a North Atlantic right whale, which, with only 350 to 400 remaining, is considered one of the most critically endangered species of whales. And it was also extremely young, and, perhaps most importantly, extremely alive when it came ashore.

Before the calf was put down, Bogardus and representatives from the Virginia Aquarium were able to collect live fluid and tissue samples from the calf, which, Bogardus explained, would provide researchers with a good deal more information than post-mortem samples.

And the next day, representatives and research teams from the Virginia Aquarium, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission, the North Carolina Aquarium, Duke University Marine Lab, the University of Florida, North Carolina State University, and the University of Tennessee, all showed up to perform the necropsy and take samples from the whale.

During the necropsy, examiners found no signs of any human interference, reported Gretchen Lovewell, marine mammal stranding coordinator for NOAA, but they did discover several gastrointestinal issues, including kinks and twists in the intestines, probably present since birth, which, because of potential complications with feeding and waste elimination, could have led to the separation.

Aside from determining the cause of death, the researchers’ goal, Lovewell said, was to “take every possible sample.”

Because this particular species is so critically endangered, and because most of the strandings are adults, dead long before they reach the shore, whose tissues have already begun disintegrating, it is rare that researchers are able to collect the kinds of samples they have been able to collect from this particular whale.

 “This is a really unique opportunity for us,” said Lovewell, “It’s rare that we get [a right whale corpse] so young and fresh.” 

The samples collected today, along with the live samples Bogardus collected yesterday, will be shipped off to labs from Florida to Tennessee to Massachusetts, where researchers will attempt to learn everything they possibly can about this extremely rare animal.

---

December 16,  2008



Michelle Bogardus, lead sea turtle biologist for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, was on her way to the Norfolk Airport this morning when she received an important call. A North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered species of whales, had beached itself sometime that morning on a beach about a mile north of Ramp 34 in Avon.

Since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) no longer handles whale strandings, Bogardus, who had recently finished training in the area of large mammals, turned around and headed back to the island to respond to the call.  

She was met by representatives of the Virginia Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Stranding Team, one of the few institutions authorized to work on the critically endangered species, and together, they spent the afternoon examining, taking samples from, and eventually euthanizing the whale.

They determined it was a male calf, and that, because right whales are around 12 to 14 feet at birth, the stranded whale, at 4.9 meters (around 15 feet), was just a baby, probably no more than a week old.

Bogardus explained that whales beach themselves when they are in distress to avoid drowning—that they essentially come ashore to die. Unfortunately, that makes euthanasia the best, most humane option.

“Otherwise, he would have died slowly and painfully,” Bogardus said.

While any whale stranding is a sad event, this stranding is particularly unfortunate, and of particular interest to biologists.

With only 350 to 400 whales remaining, The North Atlantic right whale is considered a critically endangered species, and, according to Bogardus, each loss poses a pretty significant threat to the entire population.

In the case of a whale this age and size, Bogardus said, separation from or abandonment by the mother is the ultimate cause of death. The more important, and more difficult, question to answer is why the event happened.

That is the question that several teams of experts, arriving from all over the East Coast, will seek to answer on Wednesday, Dec. 17, when they perform an official necropsy on the calf, before they lay his remains to rest in sand. 
 
If there’s a silver lining to this situation, it’s that the little whale could make a big contribution to right whale research efforts.

When they arrived at the site this morning, Bogardus and the Virginia Aquarium team were able to collect tissue samples from the calf before it was euthanized.  According to Bogardus, those live samples will be of great use to researchers, providing them with much more information than samples taken from a deceased specimen, not only in terms of the calf itself, but also in terms of the species as a whole.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION
 
For more information on the North American right whale, described as the "rarest" of whale species, go to http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/right-whale.html