When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
CLARIN

Why Did Dozens Of Dolphins Die In Argentina?

Scientists are investigating why 68 dolphins — most of which were dead —washed ashore this week in the central province of Chubut.

The dolphin deaths are still very much a mystery
The dolphin deaths are still very much a mystery
Carlos Guajardo

PUERTO MADRYN — Were they sick? Were they chased ashore by hungry orcas? Those are two of the theories scientists are considering following the discovery this week of nearly 70 beached dolphins — many of them already dead — near Puerto Madryn in central Argentina's Chubut province.

For now, though, the dolphin deaths are still very much a mystery. "We don't know for certain what caused this dolphin stranding," Mariano Coscarella, a researcher at the government scientific agency CENPAT told Clarín. "We don't have enough clues to really clarify the matter yet."

Coscarella said that he and his colleagues counted 68 common dolphins in total. Together they managed to return 19 to the water. The rest died. The CENPAT researcher also said the animals appeared intact. Adding to the mystery is that this is the first such mass stranding ever recorded in the Golfo Nuevo, as the water around Puerto Madryn is known.

The scientists plan to perform necropsies on the corpses. Hopefully that'll provide additional clues. One of Coscarella's CENPAT colleagues, Silvana Dans, isn't ruling out the possibility that the dolphins were "corralled" by killer whales and thus pushed off course — and ultimately onshore.

"We know from other cases studied that there could have been a pursuit by orcas," said Dans. "The dolphins could have felt trapped." Another hypothesis, given that the dead dolphins are part of a single group is that they were victims of "some kind of epidemic," she added.

The CENPAT researchers were also surprised to find such a large batch of common dolphins. "That's unusual here," said Dans, who explained that the more prevalent species in the area is the dusky dolphin.

Whatever the cause, the scientists will have to be patient. The necropsies and other tests are expected to take several weeks.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Geopolitics

Why The Latin American Far Left Can't Stop Cozying Up To Iran's Regime

Among the Islamic Republic of Iran's very few diplomatic friends are too many from Latin America's left, who are always happy to milk their cash-rich allies for all they are worth.

Image of Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, Romina Pérez Ramos.

Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, Romina Pérez Ramos.

Bolivia's embassy in Tehran/Facebook
Bahram Farrokhi

-OpEd-

The Latin American Left has an incurable anti-Yankee fever. It is a sickness seen in the baffling support given by the socialist regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela or Bolivia to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which to many exemplifies clerical fascism. And all for a single, crass reason: together they hate the United States.

The Islamic Republic has so many of the traits the Left used to hate and fight in the 20th century: a religious (Islamic) vocation, medieval obscurantism, misogyny... Its kleptocratic economy has turned bog-standard class divisions into chasmic inequalities reminiscent of colonial times.

This support is, of course, cynical and in line with the mandates of realpolitik. The regional master in this regard is communist Cuba, which has peddled its anti-imperialist discourse for 60 years, even as it awaits another chance at détente with its ever wealthy neighbor.

I reflected on this on the back of recent remarks by Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, the 64-year-old Romina Pérez Ramos. She must be the busiest diplomat in Tehran right now, and not a day goes by without her going, appearing or speaking somewhere, with all the publicity she can expect from the regime's media.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest