New Orleans, LA – Scientists are trying to figure out what killed 53 bottlenose dolphins -- many of them babies -- so far this year in the Gulf of Mexico, as five more of their carcasses washed up Thursday in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Blair Mase, a government official, says it's likely to be months before they get back lab work showing what caused the spontaneous abortions, premature births, deaths shortly after birth and adult deaths.
She is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's stranding coordinator for the Gulf Coast.
Calves and fetuses made up at least 85 percent of the deaths in Alabama, 60 percent or more of those in Mississippi and Florida and 20 percent in Louisiana, according to NOAA figures.
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