Mysterious pelican deaths in US worry scientists
New YorkThe sudden death of at least 8,000 white pelican chicks and the ensuing departure of about 16,000 adult pelicans from three nesting islands in a US nature reserve is puzzling scientists.
Inspections at the Chase Lake natural wildlife reserve in the northern central state of North Dakota revealed that only about 500 chicks are left over from the 9,000 that were expected during the summer, while 2,000 adults remain from the original 18,000-pelican population.
Samples from the dead birds have been sent to a laboratory in Wisconsin and scientists hope that they will yield some answers, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
Shortly before chicks started dying in early July, a storm with unusually strong winds and rainfall swept over the refuge and may be to blame, scientists said.
Other nature reserves, such as the Waubay Refuge in neighbouring South Dakota and the Medicine Lake National Refuge in northeast Montana, have seen similar pelican deaths, which have been blamed on the West Nile virus.
Thousands of pelican chicks died at the Chase Lake refuge last year, when 30,000 adult pelicans flew away in the spring, abandoning their eggs and live young in the spring without apparent reason.
Despite these high losses, the pelican population is not yet endangered, according to biologist Marsha Sovada of the US Geological Survey's Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Centre in Jamestown, North Dakota.
North Dakota has recorded a 19.8 percent yearly increase in its white pelican population for years. Nationally, that number has been increasing by 3.4 percent since 1996.
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