Drones can be powerful tools in gathering important health data about wildlife, including marine species like the Salish Sea’s endangered killer whales.
For decades, fish-eating killer whales in the Pacific Northwest have been observed harassing and even killing porpoises without consuming them — a perplexing behavior that has long intrigued scientists.
In the early 2000s, a fungus infected hundreds of animals and people in British Columbia and Washington State. Scientists found that the disease also killed porpoises and dolphins in the Salish Sea – perhaps affecting cetaceans even earlier than people.
A new podcast series, Pod of Orcas: Saving Southern Resident Killer Whales, aims to bring attention to the plight of the remaining 75 southern resident killer whales in the wild.
Pathology reports on more than 50 killer whales stranded over nearly a decade in the northeast Pacific and Hawaii show that orcas face a variety of mortal threats — many stemming from human interactions.
