Researchers are looking for the reason a newborn North Atlantic right whale with umbilical cord still attached washed up on a Florida beach.
State wildlife officials loaded the 15-foot-long carcass weighing more than 1,500 pounds onto a trailer and took it to the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine to determine the cause of death Saturday, the South Fla. Sun-Sentinel reported.
Right whales, which got their name because they were particularly easy and profitable to hunt, hover close to extinction with a worldwide population of about 300, the newspaper said. Researchers said they hope clues from the carcass's necropsy will aid conservation efforts.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
Related stories:
Biologists to euthanize beached whale
Marine biologists monitoring a sperm whale stranded at the mouth of Florida's Tampa Bay say euthanizing it is the most humane option.
Rare whales die beached in South Florida
Three rare, deep-dwelling whales that became beached Wednesday on Florida's South Hutchinson Island reportedly have been euthanized.
Wireless World: Real-time Head & Shoulders
A customer at a retail store picks a bottle of shampoo off the shelf, heads to the cashier, and pays for the product. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tag on the item sends a notice to the store's network -- alerting it that inventory has been reduced. The network automatically communicates with computers at the shipping center of the shampoo maker, which triggers a shipping notice that more shampoo is on the way to replenish the dwindling stocks of Head and Shoulders.
NOAA report states half of US coral reefs in 'poor' or 'fair' condition
Nearly half of U.S. coral reef ecosystems are considered to be in "poor" or "fair" condition according to a new NOAA analysis of the health of coral reefs under US jurisdiction. The NOAA report says that the nation's coral reef ecosystems, particularly those adjacent to populated areas, continue to face intense human-derived threats and while remote reefs are subject to threats such as marine debris, illegal fishing and climate change.
Farmers say salmonella scare has hurt tomato sales
(AP) -- Expect fewer slices of red, ripe tomatoes next to the grill this holiday weekend. With a salmonella scare causing many customers to shun what's normally a summertime favorite, tomato farmers nationwide have had to plow under their fields and leave their crop to rot in packinghouses.
Dry Tortugas show positive trends: Protected area slowly rebounding
Multi-agency effort a collaborative success in integrated ecosystem assessment
A team of 38 research divers from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, NOAA Fisheries Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Park Service, REEF, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington recently completed a successful 20-day biennial census to measure how the protected status of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary's Tortugas Ecological Reserve and Dry Tortugas National Park's Research Natural Area are helping the regional ecosystem rebound from decades of overfishing and environmental changes.
Worm-like marine animal providing
The marine invertebrate amphioxus offers baseline information for genetic roots of vertebrate innovation such as the adaptive immune system
Research on the genome of a marine creature led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is shedding new light on a key area of the tree of life.
Shuttle Discovery Glides Home After Successful Mission
With Commander Mark Kelly and Pilot Ken Ham at the controls, space shuttle Discovery descended to a smooth landing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The STS-124 crew concluded their successful assembly mission to the International Space Station when the shuttle landed at 11:15 a.m. EDT.