20 baby dolphins washed up on beaches in Mississippi and Alabama

Almaty. February 25. Kazakhstan Today - Baby bottlenose dolphins are washing up dead in record numbers on the shores of Alabama and Mississippi, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Baby bottlenose dolphins are washing up dead in record numbers on the shores of Alabama and Mississippi, alarming scientists and a federal agency charged with monitoring the health of the Gulf of Mexico, CNN reported.

Moby Solangi, the executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) in Gulfport, Mississippi, said Thursday he's never seen such high death numbers.

"I've worked with marine mammals for 30 years, and this is the first time we've seen such a high number of calves," he said. "It's alarming."

At least 24 baby dolphins have washed up on the shores of the two states since the beginning of the year - more than ten times the normal rate. Also, six older dolphins died.

In January 2009 and 2010, no calf strandings were reported, compared to four in January 2011, the institute said. During the month of February for those years, only one calf stranding was reported each year.

Blair Mase, lead marine mammal stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), echoed Solangi's concern.

"It's not common for this time of year to recover such young animals. When you put the numbers together, it's quite high compared to previous years."

The occurrence has prompted NOAA to designate these deaths as an "unusual mortality event" - defined as a stranding incident that is unexpected or involves a significant loss of any marine mammal population.

While bottlenose dolphins are actually the most-frequently found stranding animal, the season usually begins in March, according to Mase.

"We receive reports of stranding year round. We get an average of 700 total every year in the Southeast," she said.

While scientists have seen baby dolphins wash up in the past, "This is not during the months that they should be," said Solangi. "We keep getting reports of new ones all the time, and February isn't over yet."

There have been 13 unusual mortality events involving dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico since 1991, Mase explained.

Marine mammals are particularly susceptible to harmful algal blooms, infectious diseases, temperature and environmental changes, and human impact, she said.

The carcasses of 20 infant and stillborn dolphins washed up on the shores of the 130-mile stretch of coastline from Gulfport, Mississippi, east to Gulf Shores, Alabama yesterday, Daily Mail informed.

The remains of about ten adult dolphins, none of them pregnant females, have also been found so far this year. Only one was not a bottlenose.

Scientists are looking at possible causes like cold winter and disease. But they are also investigating whether there was a link to the BP oil spill.

None of the carcasses bore any obvious outward signs of oil contamination. But Mr Solangi said necropsies, the equivalent of human autopsies, were being performed and tissue samples taken to determine if toxic chemicals from the oil spill may have been a factor in the deaths.

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