Some 800 gray whales, about 3 percent of the gray whale population, died this year during their annual migration from the lagoons of Baja California to feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. This is the largest number in the 24 years records have been kept. The 150 or so whales which washed up dead on beaches were emaciated and seemed to have starved to death. Scientists don’t know whether the warming of oceans is threatening the whales’ food supply or whether the population has rebounded so well that growing numbers of whales are fighting over the same amount of food. The gray whale population is now estimated at 26,600, up from about 2,000 in 1900.
