Environmentalists in Brazil say they are trying to figure out why more than 80 gray dolphins have died in less than a month on the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. A statement from the Gray Dolphin Institute says the dolphins died over past 17 days in the Bay of Sepetiba, a coastal district about 70 kilometers west of Rio de Janeiro. The institute is an NGO that monitors and strives to protect the dolphins.
The mystery surrounding the deaths of at least 877 dolphins in Peru deepened as the government said human activity was not to blame but failed to pinpoint a natural cause for the massive die-off.
Nearly 900 dolphins that washed up along Peru's northern coast since the start of the year died of natural causes, a top official said Tuesday, citing a government report.
The increase in water temperature to the north of Peru kept away the schools of fish on which marine birds feed causing the massive death of pelicans recorded in that area, which could extend to other parts of Peru, if conditions persist.
Conservationists counted 615 dead dolphins along a 150 kilometer stretch of beaches in Peru, a wildlife group said Wednesday, and the leading suspect is acoustic testing offshore by oil companies.
At least 85 dolphins have beached in a shallow inlet of a US nature reserve at Cape Cod, officials reported adding that the cause of the mass stranding remained a mystery.
Brazilian biologists have found an extremely rare example of an albino dolphin among an endangered species that lives off the southern coast of South America.