Scientists say an unprecedentedly bad year for beached dolphins on Cape Cod might have to do with warming waters changing the availability of the animals’ food. Cape Cod has a long history of marine mammal strandings. That is partially because of dramatic changes in the tide that sometimes trap wayward dolphins if they swim too close to shore.
In this image provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, two dolphins are stranded along Ellis Landing, Nov. 9, 2024, in Brewster, Mass. An unprecedentedly bad year for beached dolphins on Cape Cod might have to do with warming waters changing the availability of the animals’ food, said scientists hoping to curb the strandings. In this image provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a stranded dolphin is attended to near Skaket Beach, Orleans, Nov.
But this year is different. The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which responds to marine mammal strandings, said Thursday it has responded to 342 live, stranded dolphins this year, and that is five times more than its annual average of 67.got worse earlier this month when the organization was inundated with calls about beached dolphins. More than 50 of the animals were stranded on multiple beaches and waterways in the span of a week, the organization said.
Cape Cod is located near important dolphin feeding grounds, and the peninsula is popular with summer whale watchers because of its diversity of species. Most of the stranded dolphins have been common dolphins, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, Risso’s dolphins and bottlenose dolphins, Sharp said. While the factors influencing the strandings are complex, a changing climate is clearly driving prey and predators to new areas at times of the year they were not previously expected, said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of conservation group Whale and Dolphin Conservation North America.
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