Discovery · Associated Press · Saturday, October 3, 2026
Dozens of southern right whale calves have washed up dead near Argentina’s Peninsula Valdés, prompting researchers to investigate bacterial infection, injuries from kelp gull attacks and environmental stress.
The deaths stand out against more than two decades of monitoring in one of the species’ most important breeding grounds. Scientists are testing tissue samples to determine whether bacteria entered through wounds made by gulls.
Southern right whales have rebounded from historic commercial whaling, making calf survival especially important to maintaining that recovery.