Mysterious U.S. whale die-off is now deep in its 2nd year. We still don't know the cause.

Using a tractor, state and town officials in coastal New Hampshire attempted to drop the carcass of a minke whale into a dumpster in mid-September. But the dead cetacean proved too big, bouncing off the red bin and flopping onto the pavement of a beachside parking lot.

The minke whale — which can weigh up to 20,000 pounds — is one of 55 that have turned up dead on East Coast shores of the United States since January 2017. 

The strange die-offs have officially been labeled as an "Unusual Mortality Event" (UME) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The cause of whale deaths in this vastly-understudied species largely remain an inconsistent puzzle.  Read more...

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