Gray whales shrinking fast as climate warms

Issam AHMED
·3-min read
The scientists found a striking trend: a gray whale born in 2020 is likely to reach a full-grown adult length of approximately 1.65 meters (5ft 5in) less than a counterpart born in 2000 (ALFREDO ESTRELLA)
The scientists found a striking trend: a gray whale born in 2020 is likely to reach a full-grown adult length of approximately 1.65 meters (5ft 5in) less than a counterpart born in 2000 (ALFREDO ESTRELLA)

Pacific coast gray whales have shrunk in length an astonishing 13 percent since 2000, adding to evidence that climate change and other human activities are making marine mammals smaller, a study says.

Their diminished size could have big impacts on survival rates and reproductive success -- and trigger ripple effects throughout their entire food webs.

For the paper, researchers focused on the Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG) -- around 200 whales that are part of the wider Eastern North Pacific (ENP) population of around 14,500.

Considered "ecosystem sentinels," they stay closer to shore, feeding in shallower, warmer waters, than the wider population that inhabits colder, deeper Arctic seas. Prior research had shown they are in worse shape than their counterparts, with smaller bodies, heads and flukes.

"Now we know they have been shrinking in body size over the past 20-40 years, which may be an early warning sign that the population is at risk of declining," Kevin Bierlich, an assistant professor at Oregon State University and co-author of the paper in Global Change Biology, told AFP on Thursday.

By analyzing drone images taken from 2016-2022 of 130 individuals whose age was estimated or known, the scientists found a striking trend: a gray whale born in 2020 is likely to reach a full-grown adult length of approximately 1.65 meters (5ft 5in) less than a counterpart born in 2000.

This represents a significant 13 percent decrease in the total length of mature gray whales, which typically measure between 38-41 feet in length.

Notably, the decline was more pronounced in females, who historically exceeded males in size but are now comparable.

It would be the equivalent of seeing the average height of an American woman plummeting from 5ft 4in to 4ft 8in over two decades.

- Size matters -

"In general, size is critical for animals," said Enrico Pirotta, lead author on the study and a researcher at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

"It affects their behavior, their physiology, their life history, and it has cascading effects for the animals and for the community they're a part of."

Smaller whale calves may have lower survival rates when they stop weaning, while for adults, the major concern is reproductive success.

The species relies on energy reserves stored during the feeding season to support the demands of migration and reproduction during winter -- and the question arises whether they are able to put enough energy towards reproduction and keeping the population growing.

Importantly, the study found the trend was correlated with changes to the balance of "upwelling" and "relaxation" cycles of the ocean.

Upwelling transports nutrients from deeper waters to shallower areas. During relaxation periods, these nutrients remain in the shallower zones, where light enables plankton and other small species that whales feed on to grow.

Climate change is known to be an important factor affecting the dynamics of this delicate balance, through changes in wind patterns and water temperature.

A smaller stature may not only hinder whales' ability to thrive, but also increase their vulnerability to threats such as collisions with boats and entanglement in fishing gear, which can be deadly.

ia/bgs

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • Zebra mussel presence leads to 44k fish cull

    Fish bred at Movanagher cannot be used to stock other waters to prevent the spread of the species.

  • NASA Rover Discovers Strange Stones, Never Before Seen on Mars

    NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took a shortcut to steer clear of a path riddled with boulders — and then stumbled into a field full of them that scientists have never seen before. On its fourth campaign since landing three years ago, the tireless rover roamed its way through a dried-up river channel called Neretva Vallis […]

  • Diplomats say at least 550 pilgrims died during hajj, mostly Egyptians

    Diplomats on Tuesday said at least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year.At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries' responses told AFP."All of them (the Egyptians) died because of heat" except for one who sustained fatal injuries during a minor crowd crush, one of the diplomats said, adding the total figure came from the hospital morgue in the Al-Muaisem neighbourhood of Mecca.At least 60 Jordanians also died, the diplomats said, up from an official tally of 41 given earlier on Tuesday by Amman.The new deaths bring the total reported so far by multiple countries to 577, according to an AFP tally.The diplomats said the total at the morgue in Al-Muaisem, one of the biggest in Mecca, was 550.The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims with the means must complete it at least once.The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study published last month that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) each decade.Temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday, the Saudi national meteorology centre said.- Heat stress -Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt's foreign ministry said Cairo was collaborating with Saudi authorities on search operations for Egyptians who had gone missing during the hajj.While a ministry statement said "a certain number of deaths" had occurred, it did not specify whether Egyptians were among them.Saudi authorities have reported treating more than 2,000 pilgrims suffering from heat stress but have not updated that figure since Sunday and have not provided information on fatalities.At least 240 pilgrims were reported dead by various countries last year, most of them Indonesians.AFP journalists in Mina, outside Mecca, on Monday saw pilgrims pouring bottles of water over their heads as volunteers handed out cold drinks and fast-melting chocolate ice cream to help them keep cool.Saudi officials had advised pilgrims to use umbrellas, drink plenty of water and avoid exposure to the sun during the hottest hours of the day.But many of the hajj rituals, including the prayers on Mount Arafat which took place on Saturday, involve being outdoors for hours in the daytime.Some pilgrims described seeing motionless bodies on the roadside and ambulance services that appeared overwhelmed at times.Around 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the hajj this year, 1.6 million of them from abroad, according to Saudi authorities.- Unregistered pilgrims -Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the hajj through irregular channels as they cannot afford the often costly procedures for official hajj visas.This places these off-the-books pilgrims at risk as they cannot access air-conditioned facilities provided by Saudi authorities along the hajj route.One of the diplomats who spoke to AFP on Tuesday said that the Egyptian death toll was "absolutely" boosted by a large number of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims."Irregular pilgrims caused great chaos in the Egyptian pilgrims' camps, causing the collapse of services," said an Egyptian official supervising the country's hajj mission."The pilgrims went without food, water, or air conditioning for a long time."They died "from the heat because most people had no place" to take shelter.Earlier this month, Saudi officials said they had cleared hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca ahead of the hajj.Other countries to report deaths during the hajj this year include Indonesia, Iran and Senegal.Most countries have not specified how many deaths were heat-related.Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel said on Tuesday that health plans for the hajj had "been successfully carried out", preventing major outbreaks of disease and other public health threats, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.Health officials "provided virtual consultations to over 5,800 pilgrims, primarily for heat-related illnesses, enabling prompt intervention and mitigating the potential for a surge in cases," SPA said.bur/jsa

  • Singapore races to clean up beaches after oil spill

    About 400 tonnes of oil has washed onto the city-state's southern shores after a shipping crash.

  • Melbourne and Sydney wake to coldest morning this year after Queensland weather record

    Band of cold blankets entire east coast, with widespread frost across Tasmania, Victoria, the ACT and NSW

  • Moose Evades Grizzly Bear During Chase at Montana Campground

    A moose narrowly evaded a charging grizzly bear in Cooke City, Montana, on Tuesday, June 11, video shows.Wesley Larson, a bear biologist and host of the Tooth and Claw Podcast, captured footage of the moment at Soda Butte Campground.Larson, who reports on grizzly attacks, told Storyful the video was filmed at the same site of a fatal grizzly attack in 2010.“I checked the site number where the chase had just unfolded. It was site 26, the very same location of the fatal mauling 14 years ago,” he said.According to the National Parks Service, a female grizzly bear and her cubs mauled three people in separate tents at that campsite in 2010, resulting in one fatality.Larson said that the bear was unsuccessful in its attempt to catch the moose. Credit: Tooth and Claw Podcast via Storyful

  • Inside Greece’s tourist tragedies as Michael Mosley and four others die over 11 days in 40C heatwave

    Tourists have vanished on the Greek islands of Samos, Symi, Crete, Amorgos and Corfu

  • NASA Has Drawn Another Giant Schlong on the Surface of Mars

    Baller We regret to inform you that another, significantly larger penis drawing has hit the terrain maps of Mars after a full two decades. In an announcement last week, NASA hugely buried the lede when bragging on the latest images from its Perseverance rover, which traveled a path around the Red Planet's Mount Washburn quadrant […]

  • Javan rhino clings to survival after Indonesia poaching wave

    In 2023, a newborn Javan rhino in Indonesia raised hopes for the highly endangered species.But conservationists say they are not giving up hope yet for the species in Indonesia, where the population has previously rebounded after nearly dying out.

  • Poisoned trees gave a wealthy couple in Maine a killer ocean view. Residents wonder, at what cost?

    Suspicious deaths in an idyllic seaside community and detective work that points to poison sound like themes from a classic murder mystery. Wealth and hubris fuel the tale of a politically connected Missouri couple who allegedly poisoned their neighbor’s trees to secure their million-dollar view of Camden Harbor. The incident that was unearthed by the victim herself — the philanthropic wife of L.L. Bean’s late president — has united local residents in outrage.

  • 'How Did It Get Up There?': New 'Mysterious' Monolith Found in Nevada Desert

    The Las Vegas Police Department confirmed that the monolith was found along a popular hiking trail over the weekend

  • Southern China faces heavy floods, and landslides kill at least 9

    Southern China was reeling Tuesday from heavy rains that triggered landslides killing at least nine people, knocking out power for entire villages and burying crops. Meanwhile, northern parts of the country are battling drought, as the country faces two extremes of severe weather. Four people were killed and two others were missing in Wuping county in the coastal province of Fujian due to landslides caused by torrential rain.

  • Astronauts’ return delayed again as Boeing and NASA try to learn more about spacecraft issues

    Two NASA astronauts will remain aboard the space station a few extra days as Boeing and NASA work to better understand issues with the Starliner spacecraft.

  • Sicilian farmers on the frontline of climate change spotlighted by Earth Photo 2024 winner

    30 nature-loving photographers were shortlisted for the Earth Photo 2024 Award.

  • GE Aerospace developing hybrid engines for single-aisle jets

    GE Aerospace is developing a hybrid electric engine with the hopes it will power next-generation narrow-body jets by the middle of the next decade. While the technology is still being tested, should GE be successful, it could produce hybrid-engine jets - like a Toyota Prius of the skies - that would go a long way toward cutting the aviation industry's carbon emissions worldwide, half of which come from single-aisle jets. Hybrid cars are common on the roads, but decarbonizing the aerospace industry is considered much more difficult.

  • Thailand has tried for years to solve its pollution problem. But 'haze season' always comes back

    When the haze season comes, village chief Nanthawat Tiengtrongsakun and his tribesmen start preparing the land for fire. It’s a slightly sweet gray haze that blurs the mountains in this part of northern Thailand to a faint outline, makes the air itself feel solid and turns breathing and swallowing painful for some. The Pakanyo, who have carried out the practice as long as they have lived in these hills about 90 minutes from Chiang Mai, a top tourist destination, say they get blamed by city dwellers for fouling the air and damaging forest land.

  • ‘Mysterious monolith’ spotted for first time since 2020 in Nevada desert

    Other versions of the 10ft-tall metal installation were found in places like Utah, California, Wales and Romania in 2020

  • Europe Aims to Reduce Reliance on China for Critical Minerals

    Europe is intensifying its efforts to explore and develop rare earth metals production within its borders, aiming to reduce reliance on China and enhance energy security during the green transition.

  • Snag this No. 1 bestselling Black+Decker portable A/C while it's a cool $240 off

    It doubles as a dehumidifier and can make spaces up to 700 square feet 'icy cool in a hot minute,' according to one of 4,700+ fans.

  • Green aviation targets driving cooking oil fraud at ‘mass scale’

    Net zero targets aimed at encouraging airlines to use so-called green aviation fuel are driving fraud “at a mass scale”, campaigners claim.