Just a few weeks into 2011, and it's already a tough year for the animal kingdom: Mass deaths of blackbirds, spot fish, sardines, croakers, doves, and other creatures are going mostly unexplained in regions all over the world (as this helpful Google Map points out).
But these population injuries aren't entirely uncommon: From beached whales and dead penguins to massive fish kills and threatened manatees, 2010 had its share of bad news, too.
Often these events are blamed on temperature change, human activity, or natural causes, but in many of the cases we've included here, we may never know exactly what caused massive destruction on these fragile populations.
Image: Google Maps
Image: Inquistr
Birds Dying Around the World
Bird deaths have been getting most of the attention lately, as reports of thousands of birds dropping out of these sky have come in from the United States, Sweden, New Zealand, and other countries worldwide.On New Year's Eve, 2,000 blackbirds died in Arkansas; similar deaths in Louisiana and Kentucky followed.
Sweden reported 50 dead birds a few days later, and 100 more dead blackbirds were found in New Zealand. Current thinking is that the birds were victims of physical trauma -- which could mean anything from a lightening strike or hail to fireworks that frightened the birds into colliding with each other.
Photo: hart_curt/Creative Commons
Whales in New Zealand
New Zealand is dangerous territory for the pilot whales that pass by the island during breeding season each year.Last winter, 168 of the massive mammals were found stranded on beaches and couldn't be rescued (though conservation workers were able to save 76 other beached whales in the region).
In 2003, 160 whales died in the same region -- though biologists are still unable to say exactly why the area is so treacherous.
Penguins in Brazil
It's not unusual for residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to find a few dead penguins on their beaches in the summer: It's migrating season for the Magellans, and there are always a few that don't survive the trip.But last summer, officials found "an absurdly high number" of the birds dead on their beaches: nearly 500 (the usual annual count is around 10).
While many of the birds were found with empty stomachs, indicating starvation as a cause of death, the cause of the starvation remains a mystery.
Fish Near the Gulf of Mexico
The long-term effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are still coming to light, but two massive fish kills shortly after the spill in nearby regions put environmentalists on guard.TreeHugger's Brian Merchant captured these images of dead catfish littering the beaches of Dauphin Island, Alabama, in May 2010; though he says that the fish wash up on those beaches for other reasons -- like disease, and fishing -- the numbers this year were higher than usual.
And in September, countless sea creatures of varying kinds -- including pogies, redfish, shrimp, eel, crabs, and more -- were found clogging a section of the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
Though initial reports pointed to the oil spill as the culprit, later research showed that the fish were the victims of a deadly combination of low tides and unseasonably warm waters.
Fish in Maryland and Massachusetts
Fish in the Atlantic can be just as susceptible to the warming waters as their fellow swimmers in the south, though -- as illustrated by two major fish kills in the northern U.S. that occurred within four months of each other.In August, residents of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, called attention to thousands of Menhaden fish that were washing up on beaches; local marine fisheries explained that the Menhadens are especially "sensitive to environmental changes," and gave the cause of death as "lack of oxygen due to warmer waters."
Then, in early January, 2 million adult spot fish died in the Chesapeake Bay, where record lows of 36 degrees in December caused "cold-water stress" that the fish couldn't overcome. (The region had seen similar die-offs before: 15 million fish in 1976 and another in 1980.)
Photo: Baltimore Sun
Devil Crabs in England
Within the first week of 2011, officials in Kent, England, reported that devil crabs were washing up on the coastline in massive numbers.While the crabs were the major invaders -- The Mirror estimated that 40,000 dead Devil Crabs made up the bulk of the influx -- they weren't alone.
Other sea life, including starfish, lobsters, anemones, and sponges, were spotted on the beaches, too. Here, though, experts blamed temperature change for the mass death, pinning it to "hypothermia after the UK's coldest December in 120 years."
Sardines in Brazil
On December 30, the fishing industry in Parana, Brazil, ground to a halt as more than 100 tons of dead sardine, croaker, and catfish began landing on its beaches.Initial reports pointed to an "environmental imbalance" or to a chemical spill that could have affected the fish population -- and Planet Green points out that a naturally-occurring ocean event, like a toxic algae bloom, or the results of human activities (especially bottom trawling) could have the same end result.
Manatees in Florida
Fish aren't the only creatures threatened by a change in water temperature: For a group of manatees in the Gulf of Mexico, unusually cold weather is a dangerous thing.Last year, more than 100 manatees washed up on the shores of South Florida in the first three weeks of January alone -- officials blamed that death toll on chilly waters.
This year, the BBC reports that 300 manatees have fled the cool currents for the warmth of discharge canals at Big Bend Power Station in Tampa, Florida.
Doves in Italy
Residents of Faenza, Italy, have been faced with the deaths of far more than two turtle doves: 1,000 of the birds have been found dead in the village in the last few days.The birds were all found with blue stains on their beaks; scientists' current theory is that the birds stuffed themselves with sunflower seeds from an industrial site and "suffered from indigestion that led to their death." The blue stains, they say, are a result of a lack of oxygen that's a warning sign for altitude sickness.
More Weird Animal Phenomenons
Weird Ways Global Warming is Changing Animal Populations
Strange Animals that Glow in the Dark
Mass Animal Deaths Around the World
TreeHugger.com
By Blythe Copeland, Great Neck, New York
on January 11, 2011
http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2011/01/shocking-mass-animal-deaths-around-the-world.php?page=1
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