14 DAY TRIAL // Since the beginning of 2013 and until present day, the carcasses of over 100 dolphins have showed up on the Italian western coastline.
Most of these carcasses were discovered by the local population and by wildlife experts on beaches from Tuscany to Sicily.
Following their investigating these carcasses, wildlife researchers concluded that the dolphins most likely passed away because of a measles outbreak.
Their theory is backed up by the fact that, up until now, just one species of such marine mammals seems to have been affected, Daily Mail explains.
Should specimens belonging to other dolphin species also show up dead on Italy's coastline, local authorities might be forced to reconsider the idea that pollutants released by humans into these animals' natural habitats had nothing to do with these deaths.
“At the moment the suspected cause of the mass cetacean deaths is measles (morbillivirus delphini) and the bacterium Photobacterium damselae,” reads a statement issued by Italy's Ministry for the Environment.
Said virus is the one that causes cases of measles in humans. By the looks of it, the virus has now also found a way to affect animals.
“The deaths could be caused by food shortages which weaken the animal making them more easily exposed to diseases and parasites,” the Ministry further details in its statement.
What the Ministry means to say is that, upon necropsy, it was discovered that these marine mammals all had their stomachs completely empty.
Because of this, specialists suspect that said medical condition left them too weak to be able to hunt fish, and that the dolphins eventually died because of starvation.
The marine mammals affected by this measles outbreak are all striped dolphins. They are easily recognizable by their blue and white patterns, wildlife experts say.
Striped dolphins usually grow to measure about 8 feet (roughly 2.5 meters) in length, and most of them live to reach the age of 50-60.