Seals stranded in record numbers

Guadalupe fur seals, a threatened species that breed off Mexico and normally spend much of their time at sea, have washed up dead and dying in record numbers along the California coast this year, another apparent casualty of warming ocean temperatures.

At least 80 emaciated fur seals, mostly pups, have been found beached along the central California shoreline since spring, compared with the 10 to 12 such strandings documented in a typical year, US government scientists say.

The strandings were declared an "unusual mortality event" by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a designation that brings greater scrutiny of marine mammal biologists, and sometimes greater research funding.