The southern resident killer whales that feed and frolic in the Salish Sea have lost three members this year and about 20 per cent of their number in the past decade.

A new pod of 240 whales swam aground at a remote New Zealand beach on Saturday just hours after weary volunteers managed to refloat a different group of whales following an earlier mass stranding. In total, more than 650 pilot whales have beached themselves along a 5 kilometer (3 mile) stretch of coastline over two days on Farewell Spit at the tip of the South Island. About 335 of the whales are dead, 220 remain stranded, and 100 are back at sea.

Resolution imposes stricter reviews of whales killed under the scientific programme which Japan’s critics say it abuses to hunt for meat

Conservation groups dismayed as Japan and other pro-whaling nations vote against plans for a protected area for whales, dolphins and porpoises. By Adam Vaughan.

Japanese fleets have killed more than 300 minke whales in the Southern Ocean despite a court ruling and three-decade-old ban. By Adam Vaughan. (Oct. 20, 2016)

Few Americans are as affected by climate change as Alaska’s Inupiat, or as dependent on the fossil-fuel economy. By Tom Kizzia.

Like many good mysteries, this one started with a corpse, but the body in question was 24 feet (7.3 meters) long. The remains floated ashore in June of 2014, in the Pribilof Islands community of St. George, a tiny oasis of rock and grass in the middle of Alaska's Bering Sea. A young biology teacher spotted the carcass half-buried in sand on a desolate windswept beach. He alerted a former fur seal researcher who presumed, at first, that she knew what they'd found: a Baird's beaked whale, a large...

On July 15, a federal court ruled that the Navy can’t use a particularly powerful sonar tool in waters inhabited by marine mammals. By Nick Stockton.

From the Old Testament to the Loch Ness Monster, strange watery beasts have terrified and inspired artists in equal measure. Alastair Sooke dives in.

Sperm whales have unique cultural identities.

Significant portions of the habitats for loggerhead turtles, right whales, and many other species would be impacted if the Obama administration approves permits for seismic testing. By Samantha Page.

A fleet of four ships returned to Japan on Thursday after killing 333 whales in the Antarctic as part of the country's controversial hunt. The quota of 333 is a third of what Japan used to haul in on average every year. Now, it's the maximum number of kills allowed under the program, which Japanese officials say is all done in the name of science. But not everyone agrees, including the United Nations International Court of Justice. In 2014, the court ordered Japan...

Residents along the east coast of Britain are praying they will not see a repeat of the tragedies seen in Skegness and Hunstanton where six whales have now washed up on the beach. Hundreds of people from all over the East Midlands flocked to Skegness to see three dead whales on Central Beach before they were removed to Sheffield for rendering last Wednesday. A fourth whale that beached of former Ministry of Defence (MOD) land...

A school of shortfinned pilot whales beached on Tiruchendur coast in southern Tamil Nadu on Monday night and Tuesday morning, setting off a massive rescue effort by officials and fishermen over a 16km stretch of sand. Of the 81 whales washed ashore, 45 were dead by afternoon despite efforts to save them. Weighing from 1,000 to 1,500kgs and about 4metres in length, these enormous sea mammals struggled for life as rescuers made valiant attempts to push...

They are among the most intelligent creatures on the planet, but family ties can lead them into danger. By David Lusseau. (Nov. 5)

One of the most beautiful, amazing, and depressing things I’ve ever done is participate in a whale necropsy. By Jonathan Foley.

Japan announced this week that it would resume hunting minke whales in defiance of an international moratorium. Why? By Sarah Zhang.

‘A few years ago I helped push a beached humpback whale back out into the sea, only to witness it return and expire under its own weight on the sand...‘ By Rebecca Giggs.

The coast of southern Chile has become a grave for 337 sei whales that were found beached in what scientists say is one of the biggest whale strandings ever recorded. Biologist Vreni Haussermann told The Associated Press Tuesday that she made the discovery along with other scientists in June during an observation flight over fjords in Chile's southern Patagonia region. The team has been collecting samples since then.

On Tuesday, Japan's whaling fleet will set out on a three-month-long hunt for minke whales. The Japanese government argues that this hunt — which will only kill 333 whales, about a third of the average yearly haul before the country's year-long whaling pause — is being done in the name of scientific research. But the U.N.'s International Court of Justice has already deemed the "scientific" program to be anything but.