Baby Dolphin Die-Off in Gulf Grows

More and more young bottlenose dolphins are turning up dead in the Gulf, and scientists aren’t entirely sure why. The number of dead dolphins has swelled to 80, according to National Geographic, with about half of them being calves. Speculation is running rampant that the deaths are connected to the BP oil spill. “Everybody wants to jump to that conclusion,” says one NOAA official, “but at this point in time, it’s too early to tell.”

Scientists think some of the calves may have actually been premature stillbirths, because dolphins typically give birth around March or April. “That’s one part of the investigation that we’re going to be looking at very carefully,” the official said. “We’ll methodically score each animal … to determine if, in fact, it was an aborted calf.” (More bottlenose dolphin stories.)