Infant dolphin deaths up

GULFPORT, Miss. - Baby dolphins are washing up along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines at 10 times the normal rate. The Sun Herald reports that 17 young dolphins, either aborted or dead soon after birth, have been collected along the shorelines. It's the first birthing season for dolphins since the BP oil spill. Moby Solangi, director of the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, said that typically in January and February one or two baby dolphins per month will be found in Mississippi and Alabama. (Source: Sun Herald, 02/21/11) Over the weekend, Samantha Joye, a scientist from the University of Georgia, told a science conference in Washington that the oil from the BP spill is not degrading as quickly as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor. (Source: Multiple, including AP, 02/20/11)