Loss of life in whales may be result of climate change research?

Japanese study says loss of fat in whales may be result of climate change

Over two decades, Japanese ships have butchered thousands of whales taken from the icy waters around the Antarctic in the name of research. Campaigners and politicians condemn the practice as unethical and unnecessary, and say Japan's "scientific" whaling programme is commercial whaling by another name.

Now, Japan's scientists claim their controversial whaling programme has produced a key finding. Measurements taken from more than 4,500 minke whales slaughtered since the late 1980s reveal the animals have lost significant amounts of blubber, and are getting thinner at a worrying speed. The team says its study offers the first evidence that global warming could be harming whales, because it restricts their food supplies. And they say the discovery could only have been made by killing the animals.