Outside Reading Blog Post #9

Today, I read an article about whales. According to the article, seven Sound Puget killer whales are missing and feared dead. Unfortunately, this could be the biggest decline in sound orcas in nearly a decade. Ken Balcomb, a scientist at the Center for Whale Research, says "The population drop is worse than the stock market." Scientists, including Balcomb, believe that the low numbers of chinook salmon, the whales' primary source of food, is a factor in the decrease in population. This particular species of whale is very rare. The Sound Puget whale is genetically and behaviorally different than other killer whales. In addition, the sounds that they make are considered a unique dialect.  In the last century, the population of this breed has reached 140 however, this has changed in recent decades. Unfortunately, these whales were listed as endangered in 2005. Scientists do not have the exact answer as to why the whales went missing and they have yet to find bodily remains. It seems as if the whales just... disappeared.

The entire article can be read here.

The author of this article is unknown. This article was posted on cnn.com.