Scientists say radiation causing sunburn in whale species

LONDON - Scientists say some whale species off the Mexican coast are showing signs of severe sunburn that may be caused by the damaged ozone layer's decreased ability to block ultraviolet radiation.

The seagoing mammals would be particularly vulnerable to sun damage, in part because they spend extended periods of time on the ocean's surface to breathe, socialize, and feed their young. As they don't have fur or feathers, that effectively means they sunbathe naked.

As Laura Martinez-Levasseur, the study's lead author, put it: "Humans can put on clothes or sunglasses - whales can't." Martinez-Levasseur, of the Zoological Society of London, spent three years studying whales in the Gulf of California, which separates Baja California from the Mexican mainland.

Her study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, seemed to confirm suspicions first raised by one of her whale-watching colleagues: Many skin samples revealed patterns of dead cells associated with exposure to ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun. - AP