According to the Lianhe Zaobao reported on January 16, scientists said on Wednesday (15th) that the heat wave that occurred from 2015 to 2016 caused the death of about 1 million common murres, becoming the largest collective death event in the history of birds.
John Piatt, a biologist at the University of Washington and one of the study's authors, said heat waves are becoming more frequent, and that this is a "fairly new" phenomenon linked to climate change.
Between 2014 and 2016, anomalously warm water areas that persisted off the coast of North America encountered a strong El Niño climate along the equator, resulting in an ocean heatwave between California and Alaska.
As a result, between 2015 and 2016, about 62,000 emaciated or dead cliff crows were washed up on the Pacific coast of North America. Because only a small percentage of the cliff crows are found within reach, scientists estimate that the number of dead cliff crows is between 500,000 and 1.2 million.
Cliff crow found dead, Source: Foreign media
Cliff Crow, Image Source: Foreign Media
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