"Something Is Killing Gray Whales. Is It A Sign Of Oceans In Peril?"

"SAN IGNACIO, Mexico — For thousands of years, the gray whales of the eastern Pacific have undertaken one of the longest annual migrations of any mammal — starting in the cold waters of the Arctic, then down past the densely populated coasts and beaches of California before finally finding refuge in the warm, shallow estuaries of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula. Only to turn around and head back north a few weeks later.

Starting in December 2018, this magnificent migration took a fatal turn.

The bodies of California gray whales began washing up along the protected inlets of Baja, where gray whales come every spring to nurse their young and mate. The first to die was a young male, beached along the shore of Isla Arena, in Guerrero Negro Lagoon. Two days later, the decomposing body of a young female was found sloshing in waves along a beach in Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, just a few miles south of the first."

Susanne Rust reports for the Los Angeles Times August 5, 2021, with photography and videography by Carolyn Cole and graphics and design by Jennifer Lu and Rahul Mukherjee.

SEE ALSO:

"What To Know About Our West Coast Leviathans And Their Uncertain Future" (Los Angeles Times)

"As Cargo Shipments Boom, Ship Strikes Imperil Whales In California And Worldwide" (Los Angeles Times)

"How We Delved Into The Odyssey Of Whale Deaths, Even As A Pandemic Raged" (Los Angeles Times)