14 DAY TRIAL // This past Sunday, the bodies of 11 short-finned whales were discovered in the Florida Keys. The marine mammals were likely members of a larger pod that became stranded in the Everglades last week.
According to officials working with NOAA, these whales were all females or very young calves. What's more, two of the females who beached in this area were pregnant at the time of their death, LA Times reports.
Wildlife researchers have had a chance to examine their bodies, and say that the whales all came ashore at a distance of about one feet (0.3 meters) from one another. The marine mammals were all severely emaciated.
For the time being, specialists cannot say whether they were malnourished because they were sick or simple because they did not have enough food available during the days that they spent in the Everglades.
Presently, NOAA officials are still unable to say what has happened to the other 29 short-finned pilot whales that became stranded in the Everglades and whose bodies have not yet been found anywhere in the area.