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What's Killing The Animals? The Mysteries Of Mass Deaths

Why do we need to look further than:

False_Bay_Shark_Diving_2014_009.jpg


maximus otter
I can't really see sharks delicately snipping the heads off and leaving the rest?
 
I can't really see sharks delicately snipping the heads off and leaving the rest?

My theory? Penguin dies - either from natural causes or shark attack - and we then get a scenario like the "Mystery of the Drifting Human Feet" thread here on FTMB:

"When a body – from an accident or a suicide – is out at sea and sinks to the bottom of the ocean, it is quickly set upon by scavengers. Scavengers like crustaceans are lazy feeders and will prefer to tackle the softer parts of the body than the tough gristly bits. On humans, the soft parts include our ankles, which are mainly soft tissue and ligaments. Chew away at this, and the foot will detach pretty quickly before any major decomposition has set in. The bodies went down whole, the feet were detached by fish.

As for why the phenomenon didn't really happen until 2007 (though there are sparse instances of feet washing up previous to this), that's where sneaker design comes in. Over the last few decades, sneakers have been made of lighter foam, as well as including air pockets in the soles.

“It really didn’t come up until we had running shoes that floated so well,” McLintock said. “Before, they just stayed down there at the bottom of the ocean.” "

https://www.iflscience.com/health-a...-ashore-in-the-us-and-canada-has-been-solved/

No need to invoke eeeeevil human intervention.

maximus otter
 
My theory? Penguin dies - either from natural causes or shark attack - and we then get a scenario like the "Mystery of the Drifting Human Feet" thread here on FTMB:
I don't think that could be the case here as:-
Remarkably the total in April alone is more than the total number of penguin deaths in the area in the whole of 2021.

I can't see how penguin bodies could have suddenly got more buoyant in April 2022. Although getting trapped inside a floating trainer would probably kill them..
 
I don't think that could be the case here as:-


I can't see how penguin bodies could have suddenly got more buoyant in April 2022. Although getting trapped inside a floating trainer would probably kill them..

Newly-resident shark/s.

Unusual meteorological/sea conditions.

People have just started noticing and counting the dead penguins.

Penguin disease.

Etc.

- Or people have suddenly started to throw huge numbers of fish-scented Aerobie frisbees into the sea for the penguins to play with...

maximus otter
 
Newly-resident shark/s.

Unusual meteorological/sea conditions.

People have just started noticing and counting the dead penguins.

Penguin disease.

Etc.

- Or people have suddenly started to throw huge numbers of fish-scented Aerobie frisbees into the sea for the penguins to play with...

maximus otter
Well hopefully the people who are investigating the deaths will solve the mystery. They said it might take 2 to 3 weeks but whether the Mirror will follow this up or not is another thing..
 
On Ch 4 news tonight there was a segment on bird flu H5N1 which is apparently currently running rampant in wild bird populations. The video was from Scotland focusing on gannet/tern/seabird colonies on uninhabited rocks/islands where the birds nest in huge colonies. The flu is having severe to devastating effects. Many dead birds shown in the film. People urged to stay away & keep dogs from dead birds.

It originated in Chinese factory chicken farms in the 90s. Several million chickens were slaughtered in the UK last year due to an outbreak. It’s relatively controllable if in a limited space like a farm but it’s now jumped to the wild bird population.

H5N1 currently doesn’t readily jump to humans. It has been known though, mainly to people working in the chicken farming industry. According to the report it has around a 50% fatality rate in humans.

We know mutations happen in viruses. It was quite a sobering report & one I hadn’t been aware of what with all of the rest of the shit currently going down.
 
On Ch 4 news tonight there was a segment on bird flu H5N1 which is apparently currently running rampant in wild bird populations. The video was from Scotland focusing on gannet/tern/seabird colonies on uninhabited rocks/islands where the birds nest in huge colonies. The flu is having severe to devastating effects. Many dead birds shown in the film. People urged to stay away & keep dogs from dead birds.

It originated in Chinese factory chicken farms in the 90s. Several million chickens were slaughtered in the UK last year due to an outbreak. It’s relatively controllable if in a limited space like a farm but it’s now jumped to the wild bird population.

H5N1 currently doesn’t readily jump to humans. It has been known though, mainly to people working in the chicken farming industry. According to the report it has around a 50% fatality rate in humans.

We know mutations happen in viruses. It was quite a sobering report & one I hadn’t been aware of what with all of the rest of the shit currently going down.
Yes. . . I was watching that report too, very sad to see the devastation left ~ ignore it at our peril I would say! Especially as covid will always be out there at the same time.
 

Thousands of sea creatures wash up dead on beach in the North East

Some suspect it’s caused by pollutants released from mud in River Tees, DEFRA says algal bloom. Crabs have apparently not recovered in numbers from the last incident in October.

Countless marine creatures have once again washed up dead on the North East coast, shortly after dredging restarted on the River Tees.

Work went ahead on the river bed from September 1, despite desperate pleas from conservation groups, local residents and the fishing industry, which feared a repeat of a mass marine life die-off last October.

But the dredging was given the green light and yesterday, three weeks on, pictures emerged appearing to show thousands of dead animals on beaches in Saltburn and Marske. Similar scenes have been reported in Hartlepool.

Experts are as yet unable to say what has caused the deaths but locals are convinced that dredging is behind the ongoing problems.

That is despite Defra repeatedly insisting that an ‘algal bloom’ was to blame for the original die-offs. Experts have disputed that claim and pointed to research showing huge quantities of pyridine in crabs.
1663878230280.png
 
Here on the North Yorkshire coast, the absence of herring gulls is highly notable. We usually have quite a large contingent, moaning about their noise, their attacks on tourists walking along eating their fish 'n' chips, the same tourists feeding chips to gulls etc.
There's a reduced bird noise in general - our garden has a large wooded area and the sound of wood pigeons has greatly diminished, but the gulls have almost disappeared. Common thought is that, after a local discovery, avian 'flu is responsible.
Then again, common thought over the crab decimation was actually caused by damage from large Spanish and French trawlers, often seen in the distance. And the local fishing industry - the majority being crabbers - is already under threat so regard DEFRA's explanation as being denial rather than explanation.
 
Shell-shock?

Zanzibar's government is investigating why thousands of dead swimming crabs have washed up on the beaches of the Tanzanian islands.

Since 28 September, there have been reports of the dead crabs washing ashore at Mtoni, Mizingani and Forodhani public beaches. The government is urging people not to worry it might be caused by pollution.

Reports indicate climate change leading to an abrupt change in the temperature of the sea might be to blame.

"Some living things like the swimming crabs cannot resist sudden changes in the sea, and they die and wash ashore," Dr Salum Soud, a marine biologist and Zanzibar's director of development and fisheries, told the BBC. "Ocean waters have layers of temperatures and so the waves force water underneath to go up, thus may cause low oxygen hence the crabs are likely to face death," he added.

The mass deaths of the crabs is not an isolated incident, according to Sheha Mjaja Juma, Director General of the Zanzibar Environment Management Authority (Zema), who told Tanzania's The Citizen paper it had also happened in Seychelles.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63254638
 
Here on the North Yorkshire coast, the absence of herring gulls is highly notable. We usually have quite a large contingent, moaning about their noise, their attacks on tourists walking along eating their fish 'n' chips, the same tourists feeding chips to gulls etc.
There's a reduced bird noise in general - our garden has a large wooded area and the sound of wood pigeons has greatly diminished, but the gulls have almost disappeared. Common thought is that, after a local discovery, avian 'flu is responsible.
Then again, common thought over the crab decimation was actually caused by damage from large Spanish and French trawlers, often seen in the distance. And the local fishing industry - the majority being crabbers - is already under threat so regard DEFRA's explanation as being denial rather than explanation.
Around here along this part of the south coast large numbers of herring gulls seem to have vanished as well. Yesterday I drove along a road that follows the cliff tops where normally there is an abundance of gulls but this time there were almost none.
 

Meeker cattle deaths remain unsolved mystery to wildlife and livestock experts


Nearly two months after the death of dozens of calves south of Meeker — originally believed to be caused by wolves — wildlife officials, veterinarians and the rancher who suffered the losses all remain perplexed as to how the animals died.

The role wolves may have played has diminished since the original news release by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Oct. 7, but the predator has not been completely ruled out. Meanwhile, disease has gained ground as a possible cause.

…one of the possibilities investigated was black leg, a disease caused by the Clostridium bacteria. The disease causes low oxygen conditions such as bruising or damage to the muscle and eventually muscle necrosis and hemorrhage.

…the case remains perplexing because a ''handful'' of calves showed injuries, including contusions and hemorrhaging, consistent with wolf depredations. Some had tails missing and marks consistent with canine teeth, which prompted the state wildlife agency's initial release.

He said a possibility is canines, such as dogs or wolves, chased or harassed the wolves, exacerbating a health issue within the herd.

https://eu.coloradoan.com/story/new...ry-to-wildlife-livestock-experts/69686419007/

maximus otter
 
Bodies of 1,700 dead seals found along Russia's Caspian coast

Their cause of death so far remains unclear, but authorities in the Russian province of Dagestan said the animals had likely died of natural causes.

On Saturday, regional officials initially said 700 seals had been discovered dead on the coast.

But Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Centre, said on Sunday that following a broader inspection of the coast, the number of dead seals was in fact 1,700, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

He said the seals were believed to have died a couple of weeks ago, and added there were no signs they had been killed by poachers.

Federal Fisheries Agency experts, along with prosecutors, inspected the coastline and collected data for laboratory research, which did not uncover any pollutants.

Several incidents of mass seal deaths in previous years have been attributed to natural causes.

https://news.sky.com/story/bodies-of-1-700-dead-seals-found-along-russias-caspian-coast-12761558

maximus otter
 
Round here they are likely crashing into the forest of bird flue warning
signs that have sprung up.
:dunno:
 
https://nautil.us/where-have-all-the-snow-crabs-gone-248247/

Where Have All the Snow Crabs Gone?​

Eleven billion crabs vanished. Is climate change really to blame?
When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the first-ever cancellation of the Bering Sea snow crab season in October—and extended the closure of the king crab fishery—explanations were thin. Headlines relayed what the government had gathered: Nearly 11 billion crabs had, effectively, disappeared. The cause remained an open case, albeit with a prime suspect: climate change.

But climate doesn’t tell the whole story. Nautilus interviewed marine scientists, fishermen, former and current government officials, from Alaska to D.C., whose expertise and testimonies indicate there’s another force at play: fishing. Yet like all good mysteries, the story goes even deeper. It begins with a diver and a camera.

It was September 1993 at the bottom of the Gulf of Alaska. As he descended and the seafloor came into view, Braxton Dew witnessed a phenomenon few others had ever seen: a mountain of king crabs. There were some 9,000 of them, towering above his head once he reached the seabed. He checked the depth gauge: 75 feet. He captured a photograph.

Dew would log 943 dives observing the crabs during his 25-year tenure as a marine biologist at NOAA, where he studied their complex social systems, cooperative foraging techniques, and unique podding behavior: when king crabs come together in daytime to rest in spherical or dome-shaped formations before foraging in a herd at night.

In 1996, Dew used the photo to help demonstrate to NOAA administrators that the survey methods they used to estimate adult king crab populations were flawed.1 It was too easy to pull the sampling net through an aggregation and extrapolate that highly localized density to an entire region. If this occurred, the population estimates used by government managers of Alaska’s king crab fishery could be inaccurate.

According to Dew, the evidence he presented caused turmoil inside NOAA. He was transferred from Kodiak to Seattle; underwater crab research conducted by the agency declined sharply. He remained there for 12 years without assignment, waiting to publish his final manuscripts in the NOAA Sea Grant Collection, in which he laid out evidence suggesting that king crab management should better account for factors like social behavior and habitat preference.2 Some of the papers would spend over a decade stalled in review until his former bosses retired in the late 2000s.

It’s possible that if this kind of underwater behavioral research had been sustained, biologists might have a wider base of knowledge from which to build a more comprehensive and unified theory explaining the presumed deaths of billions of snow crabs in two years. Unfortunately, we are left to conjecture.
 
The same sort that’s killing millions of birds across the world at the moment.

maximus otter
Probably not. Entirely different scenarios and zoological classes. Bird flu isn't going to kill seals.

Birds are prone to mass deaths because they flock together.
 
Probably not. Entirely different scenarios and zoological classes. Bird flu isn't going to kill seals.

Birds are prone to mass deaths because they flock together.

l meant the same root cause, i.e. a disease, not that bird flu was killing seals!

:rofl:

maximus otter
 

The Time 122 Mule Deer Fell to Their Deaths in the Sierra Nevada


A little more than five years ago, a herd of 122 mule deer fell to their deaths in the mountains of Central California. The pictures from that day are gruesome: dozens of dead deer strewn across a steep boulder field at the bottom of an icy chute. Some of the carcasses are contorted or splayed open. Others are pinched and piled at weird angles among the rocks.

mule_deer_mass_mortality_2017.jpeg


Mass mortality events like the one that occurred in the John Muir Wilderness aren’t all that uncommon. Every year, landslides, floods, avalanches, wildfires, and other natural disasters kill countless critters throughout North America. We’re just not always there to watch it happen.

Still, seeing the photos from 2017 resurfacing on social media makes us wonder: How often do large groups of wildlife fall to their death in the mountains? And what really happened that November in the Sierra Nevada?

According to reports, the group of mule deer was making its annual migration from their high-elevation summer range on the west side of the Sierra Crest to their winter range on the eastern side of the mountains. The deer were following their traditional migration route through Inyo National Forest. This route took them across a pair of notoriously dangerous stretches known as Bishop and Shepherd Passes, both of which are at elevations of around 12,000 feet.

It was actually the wettest winter on record at the time. This meant that even though the deer had waited until fall to cross the passes, there was still plenty of snow on the ground in November. And after months of high-elevation temperature swings, which create what’s known as a freeze-thaw cycle, the snowfields were coated with a bulletproof sheet of ice.

What happened next requires little imagination.

“The deer were following their migration trail and because of the heavy snow we got last year, there were big fields of it left unmelted. When it got cold it turned to ice and the deer just slipped to their death,” CDFW wildlife biologist Mike Morrison told the Sheet. “[Mule deer] are like lemmings. They could go around it, but their mama brought them that way and that’s the way they’re going. They step on the ice not recognizing it’s going to be slippery. When they get to the point where gravity takes over, it’s too late.”

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/the-story-behind-mass-death-mule-deer-photos/

maximus otter
 

The Time 122 Mule Deer Fell to Their Deaths in the Sierra Nevada


A little more than five years ago, a herd of 122 mule deer fell to their deaths in the mountains of Central California. The pictures from that day are gruesome: dozens of dead deer strewn across a steep boulder field at the bottom of an icy chute. Some of the carcasses are contorted or splayed open. Others are pinched and piled at weird angles among the rocks.

mule_deer_mass_mortality_2017.jpeg


Mass mortality events like the one that occurred in the John Muir Wilderness aren’t all that uncommon. Every year, landslides, floods, avalanches, wildfires, and other natural disasters kill countless critters throughout North America. We’re just not always there to watch it happen.

Still, seeing the photos from 2017 resurfacing on social media makes us wonder: How often do large groups of wildlife fall to their death in the mountains? And what really happened that November in the Sierra Nevada?

According to reports, the group of mule deer was making its annual migration from their high-elevation summer range on the west side of the Sierra Crest to their winter range on the eastern side of the mountains. The deer were following their traditional migration route through Inyo National Forest. This route took them across a pair of notoriously dangerous stretches known as Bishop and Shepherd Passes, both of which are at elevations of around 12,000 feet.

It was actually the wettest winter on record at the time. This meant that even though the deer had waited until fall to cross the passes, there was still plenty of snow on the ground in November. And after months of high-elevation temperature swings, which create what’s known as a freeze-thaw cycle, the snowfields were coated with a bulletproof sheet of ice.

What happened next requires little imagination.

“The deer were following their migration trail and because of the heavy snow we got last year, there were big fields of it left unmelted. When it got cold it turned to ice and the deer just slipped to their death,” CDFW wildlife biologist Mike Morrison told the Sheet. “[Mule deer] are like lemmings. They could go around it, but their mama brought them that way and that’s the way they’re going. They step on the ice not recognizing it’s going to be slippery. When they get to the point where gravity takes over, it’s too late.”

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/the-story-behind-mass-death-mule-deer-photos/

maximus otter
Natures natural traps to life!
 
still no certainty about whats killing shellfish, maybe shell shock?

A disease or parasite new to UK waters may have caused the deaths of thousands of shellfish along the North East and North Yorkshire coast, a report said.

The government previously blamed "harmful algae", while fishers commissioned a report which suggested it was due to the chemical pyridine.

The new report by 11 experts found it was "about as likely as not" a pathogen new to UK waters caused the die-off.They said it was "very unlikely" dredging carried out nearby caused it. They also ruled out toxic pollutants and harmful algal bloom.

However, current data, they said, "cannot be definitive".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-64346633
 
still no certainty about whats killing shellfish, maybe shell shock?

A disease or parasite new to UK waters may have caused the deaths of thousands of shellfish along the North East and North Yorkshire coast, a report said.

The government previously blamed "harmful algae", while fishers commissioned a report which suggested it was due to the chemical pyridine.

The new report by 11 experts found it was "about as likely as not" a pathogen new to UK waters caused the die-off.They said it was "very unlikely" dredging carried out nearby caused it. They also ruled out toxic pollutants and harmful algal bloom.

However, current data, they said, "cannot be definitive".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-64346633
These things do happen - a new disease affecting one particular species. Dutch elm disease for example - I'm still occasionally sad about the impact that had on my home town.
 
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