King Charles' cancer treatment progressing well, says Buckingham Palace
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
Melted sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has paved the way for killer whales to spend more time in these waters, but researchers worry that this could threaten species of prey in these areas, potentially throwing the ecosystem off balance.
Researchers from the University of Washington tracked the movement of aquatic species off the western and northern coasts of Alaska using underwater microphones between 2012 and 2019. They presented their findings at a conference held by the Acoustical Society of America on Thursday.
The researchers hadn't initially intended to focus on killer whales, but were surprised when they noticed that more and more orcas were moving into these waters.
“Our work mostly centres on examining the migration patterns of species through the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas, based on acoustic presence or absence," lead author Brynn Kimber said in a news release.
"But when looking for other species, like beluga whales, I noticed more and more killer whales in areas where I didn’t expect them. That was what motivated me to take a closer look at our killer whale detections.”
Killer whales had normally stayed away from these waters to avoid ice entrapment -- which occurs when ice blocks the whales from coming up to the surface to breathe -- but the effects of climate change are causing the sea to be ice-free for longer periods.
“It’s not necessarily that killer whales haven’t been reported in these areas before, but that they appear to be remaining in the area for longer periods of time,” said Kimber. “This is likely in response to a longer open-water season.”
Kimber added that the September sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has declined at an average rate of 13 per cent per decade since the 1980s.
Several species of prey, such as the endangered bowhead whale, have taken advantage of the sea ice to avoid predation by killer whales, but the declining sea ice has offered the orcas a new abundant source of food, which could put these species of prey at risk.
"These results speak to a changing Arctic, both in terms of the presence of killer whales themselves and in terms of the impact that increased killer whale predation could have on Arctic food webs," the authors wrote.
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
An investigation is underway after a Regina police officer was accidentally shot by a fellow officer’s gun during the search of a house early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
Health Canada issued recalls for various items this week, including kids’ bathrobes, cribs and henna cones.
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.