Gray whales are dying on the Oregon coast

[PZ]

On our recent annual trip to the Oregon coast a local friend said she saw a dead whale on the beach near our camp so we went for a look. Sure enough there was what appeared to be a juvenile gray whale dead in the sand. A researcher from Oregon State University happened to be there and initially told us it was a juvenile due to it's small size, but upon taking measurements concluded that it was an adult. Likely the cause of death was starvation because the whales are losing their natural food source due to changing ocean temperature. They now need to be in the arctic to get full measure resources.

On my blog is a short YT video: https://www.ztrips.org/wp/blog/2022/05/20/gray-whales-are-dying-on-the-oregon-coast/

[Dweller_Benthos]

That's too bad, and a real problem. What with the temperatures rising and most of Asia using the ocean as a place to dump plastic, ocean animals are having a real tough time of it.

[fragger]

Whale beachings happen here too (along the coast in general that is, we've never had one stranded on our local beach). But I'm always impressed by how many people will show up to try to save them, it restores my faith in humanity a little. More often than not though there's nothing they can do as the creatures are simply too large to be moved, but on a rare occasion they've manage to refloat a young, smaller one. It's sad, they're such magnificent animals. I've seen humpbacks migrating not far off the coast here on occasion.

[PZ]