Free Republic

More than 300 bottlenose dolphins have stranded themselves along the US East Coast this summer, and now researchers think they know why: they are sick. Preliminary tests suggest that cetacean morbillivirus, a cousin of the virus that causes measles in humans, is killing dolphins from New York to North Carolina, officials with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said today. Since 1 July, 333 dolphins have beached themselves, more than twice the normal yearly average for that stretch of coastline, prompting NOAA to declare an ‘unusual mortality event’ on 8 August. Many of the dolphins that have washed...

Mobile phone users worldwide will soon be able to dial-a-dolphin if a scheme to record their underwater conversations proves a success. Scientists at a dolphin sanctuary off the west coast of Ireland have teamed up with British mobile telecoms giant Vodaphone to transmit the clicking and whistling sounds of bottlenose dolphins. "In theory you could phone up and listen to dolphins while sitting in a traffic jam in Dublin," said marine biologist Simon Berrow, of the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation, based in Kilrush, County Clare. As well as its use as a possible stress reliever, the project could also...