153. As of April 17, 2011, there were 153 dead dolphins and whales that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recovered from Gulf of Mexico shores following the BP oil spill. But a study published in the journal Conservation Letters reveals that this number reflects only a fraction of the dolphins and whales killed by the catastrophe. "The Deepwater oil spill was the largest in U.S. history, however, the recorded impact on wildlife was relatively low," says lead author Rob Williams, Ph.D., a member of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia. "Reports have implied that the number of carcasses recovered equals the number of animals killed by the spill."
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