said Monday that the dead dolphins were found at various times in
January.
The latest discovery took place in the last week of January, when some
220 dead dolphins were found in the Lambayeque region on the northern
coast.
Officials have begun performing autopsies on the latest dolphin
deaths, focusing on lungs, kidneys and livers. De la Cruz said the
results were expected in two weeks.
The latest dolphin deaths were discovered in the same area where more
than 870 dolphins were encountered in 2012.
Peruvian authorities never established the cause of the 2012 deaths,
as results of autopsies were inconclusive.
Speculations have ranged from biotoxins in the sea to seismic testing
to an unknown ailment.
Yuri Hooker, director of the marine biology unit at Cayetano Heredia
University, said determining the cause is "complicated" in Peru since
government laboratories lack a wide range of chemical reagents used to
determine the dolphin's death.
According to Hooker, the Peruvian government laboratories only have
three or four of the world's 100 or so chemical reagents.
Hooker also said dolphin deaths in other parts of the world are
usually caused by environmental contamination, when they eat fish or
other smaller species filled with toxins.
Another cause for dolphins to die is ingestion of discarded plastic
floating the sea.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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