There has been a huge mystery surrounding the death of over 900 dolphins and porpoises along the coast of Peru. There has not been a single conclusion as to why such a huge number of sea creatures died. However, the final report by the Sea Institute has ruled out viral and bacterial infections, human intervention, pesticides or heavy metals as causes for the deaths.

There are some speculations that the reason behind the death of such a large number of species could be biotoxins, algae blooms or an unknown emerging disease. The Peruvian environmental group Orca which alerted the public to the deaths on the other hand is of the view that seismic testing used in oil exploration was likely the cause of this mass die-off.

But all these speculations have been brushed aside by the institute, stating that they did not find any evidence due to seismic soundings, which involve shooting compressed air at the sea floor. But the government has come under a lot of fire for collecting the samples late which could have determined the cause of death because the tissue tested was so badly decomposed. Due to the delay, important evidence was destroyed which could have highlighted the root cause of this incidence.