Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 4 July 2019

Scientists sound alarm after 6 rare whale deaths in a month

By PATRICK WHITTLE knots in the area where the
Associated Press whale was first observed re-
A half-dozen North Atlan- mained in effect, the agen-
tic right whales have died cy said. It also said it has in-
in the past month, leading creased surveillance over
scientists, government of- the Gulf of St. Lawrence
ficials and conservationists to assess the location of
to call for a swift response the whales and make sure
to protect the endangered mariners comply with rules.
species. Chris Oliver, assistant ad-
There are only a little more ministrator for the National
than 400 of the right whales Oceanic and Atmospheric
left. All six of the dead Administration’s National
whales have been found in Marine Fisheries Service,
the Gulf of St. Lawrence off said Wednesday he is call-
Canada, and at least three ing for a meeting with the
appear to have died after Canadian government to
they were hit by ships. request “immediate action
The deaths have led sci- to provide comprehensive
entists to sound the alarm protection” for the whales.
about a potentially cata- “Preventing any additional
strophic loss to the popu- deaths of North Atlantic
lation. The deaths are es- right whales is our highest
pecially troubling because In this March 28, 2018, file photo, a North Atlantic right whale feeds on the surface of Cape Cod priority. To do this, we must
they include females, said bay off the coast of Plymouth, Mass. work with our partners to
Philip Hamilton, research Associated Press strengthen protections im-
scientist with the Anderson ment as they go,” Record two top threats to right servationists. mediately,” Oliver said in a
Cabot Center for Ocean said. “You can almost think whales often cited by con- A speed restriction of 10 statement.q
Life at the New England of the whales like climate
Aquarium. migration.” Scholars say Philistine genes help
“If we’re going to have Right whales are so named
deaths, they just can’t be because they were con- solve biblical mystery
female,” Hamilton said, sidered the “right whale”
adding the population is to hunt during the com-
down to only about 100 re- mercial whaling era of long By ILAN BEN ZION
productive females. ago. They could often be Associated Press
“We need a different sys- hunted close to the coast JERUSALEM (AP) — Goli-
tem.” and provided a reliable ath the Greek? Human
Right whales have suffered source of whale oil, a pre- remains from an ancient
high mortality and poor re- cious commodity of the cemetery in southern Isra-
production in recent years, time. el have yielded precious
particularly in 2017. The Those characteristics led to bits of DNA that a new
whales appear to be trav- the decimation of the pop- study says help prove the
eling in different areas of ulation, and it has strug- European origin of the Phi-
the ocean than usual be- gled to rebuild since. The listines — the enigmatic
cause of food availability, animals numbered as few nemeses of the biblical
said Nick Record, senior re- as about 270 as recently Israelites.
search scientist at Bigelow as 1990, and as many as The Philistines mostly resid-
Laboratory for Ocean Sci- about 480 in 2010. ed in five cities along the
ences in Maine. Fisheries and Oceans Can- southern coast of what is
That shift, linked to the ada said Tuesday that the today Israel and the Gaza This Tuesday, June 28, 2016 file photo shows an archeologist
warming of the ocean, has necropsy of the sixth whale, Strip during the early Iron taking notes at an ancient Phillstine cemetery near Ashkelon,
apparently brought whales which was named Clipper, Age, around 3,000 years Israel. Associated Press
outside protected zones was completed in Que- ago. In the Bible, David has remained elusive. The biblical account re-
and left them vulnerable, bec, and that the animal’s fought the Philistine gi- Now, a study of genetic lates that the Philistines
he said. death appeared consis- ant Goliath in a duel, and material extracted from originally hailed from a
“Animals like whales that tent with blunt trauma from Samson slew a thousand skeletons unearthed in the distant isle. An Egyptian
have to figure out where a vessel strike. of their warriors with the Israeli coastal city of Ash- temple built by Rameses
their food is, they have to Ship strikes and entangle- jawbone of an ass. kelon in 2013 has found a III bears reliefs of battles
figure out a new environ- ment in fishing gear are The Philistines emerged as DNA link. It connects the with “Sea Peoples” who
other societies around the Philistines to populations appeared on the shores
eastern Mediterranean in southern Europe during of the eastern Mediter-
collapsed, possibly be- the Bronze Age. ranean. One group listed
cause of a cataclysmic The study, spearheaded in the Egyptian text is strik-
intersection of climate by researchers from Ger- ingly similar to the Hebrew
change and man-made many’s Max Planck Insti- name for Philistines. Exca-
disasters. Philistine ceram- tute and Wheaton Col- vations of Philistine sites
ics bear similarities to styles lege in Illinois, was pub- have found ceramics and
found in the Aegean, but lished Wednesday in the architecture that differed
concrete evidence of research journal Science from those of their neigh-
their geographic origins Advances. bors in ancient Canaan.q