An unusually high number of whales are washing up on U.S. beaches
The unexpected deaths are hitting humpbacks and North Atlantic right whales on the East Coast and gray whales on the West Coast — populations that were already under watch.
Researchers are trying to figure out a mystery: Why are so many humpback whales, right whales, and other large mammals dying along the U.S. East Coast? One possible explanation is a shift in food habits. And while theories are circulating that blame the growing offshore wind industry, scientists say there's no proof to support that idea.
Since Dec. 1, at least 18 reports have come in about large whales being washed ashore along the Atlantic Coast, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. The losses are hitting populations that were already under watch, due to ongoing rises in unexpected deaths.
"Unfortunately, it's been a period of several years where we have had elevated strandings of
