Starving Sea Lions Are Piling Up on California Beaches
For the third year in a row, California beaches have been inundated by a surge of starving and ill sea lion pups. So far, scientists have rescued over 250 stranded sea lions—and the reason for the crisis is stumping marine biologists.
Already, rescuers have taken in more sick sea lion pups than during an unprecedented “mortality event” in 2013, Kurtis Alexander reports for the San Francisco Chronicle. And as in 2013, scientists are unclear about what is causing large numbers of seven- to nine-month-old pups to end up on Southern California shores, showing signs of severe emaciation, dehydration and hypothermia.
Are California sea lion pups starving because warm El Niño waters are making food more scarce for their mothers? Or could the crisis point to another undersea issue? Marine biologists aren’t sure, but Justin Viezbicke of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tells the Chronicle that it could have to do with the sea lion population reaching capacity at around 300,000. He notes that sea lions provide valuable insights into the environment, acting as a bellwether for problems that could eventually effect humans.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/starving-sea-lions-are-piling-california-beaches-180954169
http://www.pacificmmc.org/
