More than a billion seashore animals may have been cooked to death in Canada heatwave
The IndependentSign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy More than a billion seashore animals may have been cooked to death during Canada’s deadly heatwave, a marine biologist has said. Harley’s team recorded temperatures above 50C at certain points amid the animals’ habitats along the coast using infrared cameras, which proved disastrous for the creatures. Multiplying the number of dead animals found in the canvassed areas by the total habitat size in the Salish Sea, he found that millions of animals had likely been cooked to death. “So if you’re losing a few hundred or a few thousand mussels for every major shoreline, that quickly scales up to a very, very large number.” Harley first realised that the heatwave had killed so many intertidal animals – creatures that live where the land meets the sea – when visiting Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver.
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