Latest news with #LowcountryMarineMammalNetwork
Miami Herald
02-06-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Whale suffered traumatic final minutes before washing onto SC beach, report says
A 29-foot-long humpback whale found dead on a South Carolina beach suffered a horrific death when its head was bashed by a boat, an investigation has revealed. The juvenile whale washed out of the Atlantic around March 15 on Bird Island near the state's northern border, and the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network suspected from the start that it suffered a painful death. 'Necropsy results suggested this animal died from blunt force trauma from an acute ship strike, resulting in multiple skull fractures and jaw disarticulation,' the network wrote in a May 22 update on Facebook. The boat involved remains a mystery, but the passengers likely felt the impact, according to Lauren Rust, executive director of the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network. No prop marks were found carved into the whale's back, but there was a 'burn from the keel,' she said. The injuries may have been caused by a fishing boat, which likely sustained damage, officials said. 'We determined this was acute blunt force trauma, meaning it happened quick and fast and likely died relatively quickly,' Rust said. 'It could be less than 24 hours. Some cases where the injury is less severe, animals can survive longer or bones can heal but this was too traumatic.' The carcass was found so close to the state line that Brunswick County officials were able to move it to Sunset Beach in North Carolina so the University of North Carolina Wilmington Marine Mammal Stranding Program could perform the necropsy and tissue collection, officials said. Humpback whales are native to the mid-Atlantic region and boat strikes are a leading cause of death, along with entanglement with fishing gear, NOAA Fisheries reports. The sea mammals can live up to 90 years, and reach sizes of 60 feet in length and 40 tons, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says. 'Humpback whales are a favorite of whale watchers ― they are often active, jumping out of the water and slapping the surface with their pectoral fins or tails,' NOAA says. 'They travel great distances every year and have one of the longest migrations of any mammal on the planet. Some populations swim 5,000 miles from tropical breeding grounds to colder, more productive feeding grounds.'
Miami Herald
14-04-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Sea creature seen engaging in heartbreaking ritual off SC island, experts say
Two dolphins seen struggling together in waters off South Carolina are engaged in a tragic ritual of parenting gone wrong, according to experts. The larger dolphin is — or was — a new mother, and the smaller dolphin is her dead calf, the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network reported in an April 13 Facebook post. 'We are aware of a dolphin pushing her (deceased) calf near Seabrook,' the network says. 'We won't intervene while mom is grieving with it. If you spot her, please keep your distance to not add any undue stress.' Instances of dolphins carrying their stillborn young have been reported in waters around the world and it is believed to be an example of 'strong maternal instincts,' according to the Florida-based Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project. 'Grief is a strong, overwhelming emotion – a natural response to losing someone, or something important. And grief takes time,' the project reports. 'The consensus amongst medical experts is that one in the process of grieving be given time and space to adjust to, and cope with their loss. For sentient beings such as dolphins and other whales, the same would appear to apply.' The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network says the bottlenose dolphin was reported by St. Johns Kayak & Boats Tours, a company that offers 'dolphin encounters' in waters between Kiawah and Seabrook islands south of Charleston. The network's April 13 post had amassed more than 3,300 reactions and comments as of April 14, with some calling the dolphin's act 'sad, but beautiful.' 'This is heartbreaking,' Tonya Wallace McGraw posted on the network's Facebook page. 'She is grieving just like a human would.. she doesn't want to let go,' Melissa Mitchum wrote.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Photos: Humpback whale found dead in North Myrtle Beach
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A juvenile humpback whale was found dead in North Myrtle Beach last week, the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network said. The network and the UNCW Marine Mammal Network Stranding Program will work together on the 29-foot male humpback. Tests and samples will take months to finalize, but officials suspect the male met 'some trauma' prior to dying. Count on News13 for updates. * * * Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Great white shark spotted off the Myrtle Beach coast. What else is in SC waters this February?
Weighing in at 425 pounds and stretching over 9 feet in length, Anne Bonny isn't the average winter visitor in the Grand Strand, but she's been cruising through the waters off South Carolina since December. Anne is a great white shark tagged by OCEARCH, a nonprofit dedicated to ocean research that tracks more than 440 sharks, dolphins, seals, swordfish, alligators and turtles. Named for a famed 18th-century pirate who spent part of her life in the Carolinas, Anne Bonny was tagged as a juvenile in April 2023. She's since made her way up and down the East Coast twice, as far as Newfoundland in the north and Beaufort in the south. Since crossing into South Carolina waters in late December, Anne Bonny spent Christmas off the coast of Myrtle Beach, then moved south near Georgetown until at least Jan. 9, before pinging off the coast of North Myrtle Beach on Feb. 4. And she's not alone. Great white sharks are just one of many larger marine animals that enjoy summering off the northeast United States and Canada when waters are warm and food is abundant before returning south for the winter. These are some of the animals you could be sharing the beach with in the Grand Strand this February. While Anne and her kind will return north to snack on seals this summer, other sharks in the Myrtle Beach area stay year-round. Bull sharks, hammerhead sharks and lemon sharks are all common in South Carolina, according to Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network executive director Lauren Rust. 'Sharks don't come to the surface, necessarily, or not very often,' Rust said. 'They don't need to surface to breathe, so they're always there, but you just aren't seeing them as often.' While sharks might evoke images of big mouths and sharp teeth, it's worth noting that there have been fewer than 120 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks in South Carolina. Great white sharks tend to stay miles away from shore, and Rust says that, while species residing in South Carolina year-round come farther inland, they're also less deadly. 'If the water is salty, then there's going to be sharks in there. But I don't think there's anything you can do to prevent your chance of getting bit by a shark, other than staying out of the water, but I wouldn't encourage that,' Rust said. 'It's so, so rare, but you are going into their habitat, and they live there and they feed there.' The 8-to-10-foot pygmy sperm whale, which Rust calls the 'smaller cousin of a large sperm whale,' resides in deep water off the coast of South Carolina. It's the only species that sticks around all year, but plenty of other whales visit in the colder months. 'They come down to South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, to give birth over the winter,' Rust said. 'So they're going to be passing our coast over the next couple months, and then they're going to do it again as they head back north.' Two whale species that venture near enough to shore for beachgoers and boaters to sometimes spot are humpback whales and endangered North Atlantic right whales, Rust said. Others, including beaked whales, large sperm whales, minke whales and pilot whales pass by farther off the coast. Bottlenose dolphins are an exciting sight off the Grand Strand coast, and compared to other animals on this list, they're spotted relatively often. While some pods live in South Carolina waters year-round, Rust says another group travels regionally to Georgia in the colder months and others migrate from farther north. Dolphin populations in the Myrtle Beach area tend to peak in the late fall, but pods are still visible through the winter. 'They're going to head down the coast where it's a little bit warmer, where the food might be a little bit better this time of year,' Rust said, 'So if you're looking out at the ocean, there could be sort of a mixture. You might see bigger groups, because it's sort of this combination of various pods of bottlenose dolphins.'
