Saturday, July 07, 2007

Even whales get the runs?

Was it the diarrhea? Five melon-headed whales that beached themselves in Florida last year were suffering from a nasty colon disease that produces chronic diarrhea in humans.

Collagenous colitis may have caused distress that led to the beaching. Where did the disease, previously known only in humans, come from? Pollution or climate change are the possible causes mentioned by scientists in the know.

Another in the long list of ocean issues that may be linked to climate change.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The idea that a gut infection lead to the stranding of melon headed whales is nonsense. The bacteria found in the gut was a fluck and meaningless.

Captain David Williams
Deafwhale Society, Inc.

Mark Powell said...

Thanks for your views, can you offer any support for them?