How are animals affected by oil spills?

How are animals affected by oil spills?

Oil spills are harmful to marine birds and mammals as well as fish and shellfish. Without the ability to repel water and insulate from the cold water, birds and mammals will die from hypothermia. Juvenile sea turtles can also become trapped in oil and mistake it for food.

How did the Deepwater Horizon affect the animals?

Marine mammal researchers concluded that exposure to the oil caused a wide range of adverse health effects such as reproductive failure and organ damage, and that animals killed by these adverse effects contributed to the largest and longest marine mammal unusual mortality event ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico.

How do oil spills affect dolphins?

We learned that dolphins in Barataria Bay and Mississippi Sound, which were exposed to oil, suffered significant health effects. These effects included lung disease from inhalation and aspiration of oil, impaired stress response, and compromised immune function. They may have led to increased infection and disease.

What animals and plants are most affected by oil spills?

Since most oils float, the creatures most affected by oil are animals like sea otters and seabirds that are found on the sea surface or on shorelines if the oil comes ashore. During most oil spills, seabirds are harmed and killed in greater numbers than other kinds of creatures.

How did the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill affect wildlife?

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill adversely affected wildlife throughout the Gulf of Mexico, including marine mammals, sea turtles, birds, fish, and invertebrates. NOAA, other federal and state natural resource agencies, and non-governmental organizations responded to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to assist affected wildlife.

How did the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill affect marine mammals?

Bottlenose dolphin with oil adhered to the head, July 2010. The oil spill contaminated prime marine mammal habitat in the estuarine, nearshore, and offshore waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Photo taken under research permit.

What happened in the BP oil spill 2010?

New Orleans, Louisiana On April 20, 2010, an explosion at the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig released over 130 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It was the biggest oil spill ever in U.S. waters and remains one of the worst environmental disasters in world history. Eleven rig workers lost their lives.

What happens to Dolphins after an oil spill?

Ten years out, Smith is also seeing higher rates of reproductive failure, lung disease, heart issues, impaired stress response, and death in bottlenose dolphins. Interestingly, says Smith, these symptoms mirror the most common health issues faced by another large mammal exposed to the oil spill: humans.