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Several thousand dead self-helpers have been washed ashore at Pelican Point in Namibia, various international media reports, including The Independent.
The bodies were discovered by the organization Ocean Conservation Namibia, which sent a drone to the seal colony on October 5, and was able to count several hundred of them lying on the sand.
– All red circles show dead baby braces. A rough estimate is over 5,000 in this colony alone. This is tragic as it accounts for a large proportion of the newborn seal pups expected at the end of November, the organization writes in Twitter.
The dead fetuses must be African sea lions. The species lives mainly along the coasts of Namibia and South Africa.
Worried researcher
Tess Gridley of Stellenbosch University is part of the research team monitoring the situation of seals in the area. She tells The Guardian that it is normal to find dead baby braces this time of year, but not on this scale.
It is said that he already discovered several dead fetuses in August. About 150 have also been found in the Cape Cross colony further north. She says the 5,000 estimate is uncertain, as many corpses are likely eaten by scavengers.
– This may mean that the normal gestation cycle is disturbed for the affected colonies. Typically, females will give birth to one young each year, before they quickly become fertile and mate again. If the females abort, they may become fertile earlier, while the males have not prepared for mating, he says, adding:
– Females are also very thin and may not be able to reproduce, he says.
Gridley cites food shortages, illness and toxins as possible causes, but notes that they currently have no data to confirm this.
Researchers are now working to collect data to analyze the cause of miscarriages.
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