seals

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2 Harbor Seal Pups Die After Beachgoers Take Them Home

Separate incidents prompted NOAA to put out a press release

(Newser) - In another devastating case of humans interfering with wildlife , a harbor seal pup had to be euthanized in Washington state after a woman carried it off the beach in a reusable shopping bag. The woman saw the pup on a beach near Westport and mistakenly believed it had been abandoned,...

The Weird Reason Mercury Levels Rise Along Coast

Blame molting seals

(Newser) - When elephant seals molt along the California coast, they shed more than fur. Scientists at the University of California at Santa Cruz have figured out that they're also leaving behind potentially dangerous levels of mercury—in that same fur, reports Smithsonian . It's a cycle that goes something like...

Seals Busted Having Sex With ... Penguins

Antarctic fur seals observed getting frisky with King penguins on Antarctic island

(Newser) - Scientists are documenting "sexual coercion" in the Antarctic, and it's probably not anything like what one might think: Young male Antarctic fur seals, it seems, have been documented having sex with King penguins of undetermined gender, reports the BBC , via a study in the journal Polar Biology . Scientists...

TB&#39;s Arrival in New World: Blame Seals
 TB's Arrival 
 in New World: 
 Blame Seals 
STUDY SAYS
Aug 21, 2014 1:01 PM CDT

TB's Arrival in New World: Blame Seals

New study also suggests TB is only 6K years old

(Newser) - Tuberculosis may have reached the New World long before Christopher Columbus ever sailed the ocean blue, a new study suggests. Scientists have examined 1,000-year-old Peruvian bones mysteriously infected with TB—500 years before the arrival of Spaniards, who are historically blamed for bringing TB to the New World, Nature ...

Smart Seals Figure Out Bonus of Wind Farms

They're essentially 'grocery stores' in a changing ocean ecology

(Newser) - Massive offshore wind farms like Sheringham Shoal in England appear to be doing more than converting wind energy. The turbines also serve as artificial reefs, which become rich hunting grounds for seals in the area, according to a report in PhysOrg . Using GPS devices affixed to the backs of 200...

Bird Flu Jumps to Seals, Could Threaten Humans

Scientists studying new strain that moves from seal to seal

(Newser) - A new strain of bird flu you should be worried about? Maybe: In New England last fall, 162 harbor seal pups were killed by H3N8, a flu subtype that has crossed over from birds to dogs and horses in the past. Other strains of flu have previously crossed over from...

Hawaii's Endangered Seals Being Killed

At least three monk seals have been killed in two months

(Newser) - Three, possibly four, critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals have been deliberately killed in Hawaii in the past two months. No one knows who is killing the seals or why. But the deaths are coming as the federal government steps up its efforts to protect the seals, leading to simmering resentment...

Mystery Disease Killing Alaskan Seals

Ringed seal outbreak puzzles biologists

(Newser) - A mysterious disease is killing seals along Alaska's Arctic coast, and officials fear it might spread to other countries—and other species. Scores of dead or severely weakened ringed seals with telltale skin lesions and hair loss have been found along the coastline over the last few months, Reuters...

Whisky Company Bashes PETA's 'Club' Cartoon

'Anything but a Canadian Club,' says clever cartoon seal

(Newser) - A whisky company isn't laughing about a clever New Yorker-style cartoon concerning seal killing created by PETA. "Anything but a Canadian Club," a sad-eyed seal sitting at a bar tells a bartender awaiting his order in the ad. Now the parent company of Canadian Club whisky has fired...

Seal Pups Clubbed to Death in Sanctuary

Some 24 animals killed over several days in popular New Zealand spot

(Newser) - Several fur seals, including newborn pups, were clubbed to death in a popular New Zealand sanctuary over several days, officials said today. Killers using clubs or bats slaughtered some two dozen animals in an isolated area of the Ohau Point colony seal breeding ground, reports AP ; many more animals are...

Great White Sighting Won't Close Mass. Beaches

Predator no threat to public safety, officials say

(Newser) - Dun-dun, dun-dun: Massachusetts isn't about to let a measly 200-pound juvenile great white shark close its beaches. The beast was caught and released 20 miles offshore, and "we don’t believe it is a threat to public safety,'' a top environmental official tells the Boston Globe . "White...

Uproar Over Whale Sushi Just Ridiculous

Outrage at foreign preferences just 'gastronomic nationalism'

(Newser) - Sure, the owners of a Los Angeles-area sushi restaurant broke the law if they indeed served whale meat, but those in a tizzy had “better wipe that morsel of moral superiority from your chin,” Japhy Grant writes . At the root, it’s a culture disconnect: Eating whale is...

Sea Lions, Seal Shot Dead Near Seattle

5 animals killed is unusually large number: officials

(Newser) - A harbor seal and at least four sea lions, including one listed as endangered, have been shot to death recently near Seattle, authorities said today. A National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman said an investigation was under way because it's illegal in most cases to shoot any kind of sea lion...

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