Source: http://ift.tt/g5lp9S - Thursday, February 26, 2015
Sick, malnourished California sea lion pups in an enclosure at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Sick, starving and dying sea lion pups are washing up on the shores of California in record numbers this year. In 2015, 940 young sea lions have turned up, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last week — four times more than California would normally see. But why? Experts say it’s the warm water. Scientists believe warmer coastal waters force the prey of sea lions — squid and sardines, for example — deeper beneath the ocean’s surface. Then nursing sea lion mothers must look further afield for food, leaving their pups for longer than normal. Deprived of sustenance and weakened, the pups limply wash ashore. “The prey source is just too far away for the mothers to go out, get food and come back and wean the pups,” Jim Milbury of the National Marine Fisheries Service told Yahoo News. Peter Wallerstein, director of Marine Animal Rescue in Los Angeles County, said the pups are unable to dive down to get food for themselves. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) The ocean is up to five degrees warmer in the northeast Pacific and off the West Coast — probably a record, NOAA climatologist Nate Mantua told the Associated Press . He said its due to the same high-pressure system that has the state in a four-year drought. “By the time they reach the mainland, they are s
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Sick, malnourished California sea lion pups in an enclosure at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Sick, starving and dying sea lion pups are washing up on the shores of California in record numbers this year. In 2015, 940 young sea lions have turned up, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last week — four times more than California would normally see. But why? Experts say it’s the warm water. Scientists believe warmer coastal waters force the prey of sea lions — squid and sardines, for example — deeper beneath the ocean’s surface. Then nursing sea lion mothers must look further afield for food, leaving their pups for longer than normal. Deprived of sustenance and weakened, the pups limply wash ashore. “The prey source is just too far away for the mothers to go out, get food and come back and wean the pups,” Jim Milbury of the National Marine Fisheries Service told Yahoo News. Peter Wallerstein, director of Marine Animal Rescue in Los Angeles County, said the pups are unable to dive down to get food for themselves. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) The ocean is up to five degrees warmer in the northeast Pacific and off the West Coast — probably a record, NOAA climatologist Nate Mantua told the Associated Press . He said its due to the same high-pressure system that has the state in a four-year drought. “By the time they reach the mainland, they are sfrom Top News on RSS Feeds http://ift.tt/1MU4wIN
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