Delfine bekommen aufgrund von Umweltverschmutzung und Algen Alzheimer-Symptome | Giftige Algen könnten Meeressäugetiere und vielleicht auch Menschen in einen kognitiven Zusammenbruch treiben.

From the article: Dolphins keep turning up on Florida’s beaches, stuck in the shallows and barely moving. Volunteers and scientists try to help by cooling them down, keeping them wet, and sometimes getting them back to sea. But many don’t make it.

Why such intelligent, social creatures beach themselves has long mystified scientists. Now, a new study [published](https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08796-0#Abs1) in Communications Biology offers an unsettling possibility: some of these dolphins may be suffering from Alzheimer’s-like brain disease, triggered by exposure to toxic algae flourishing in warming coastal waters.

And that raises a troubling question. If these marine mammals are falling victim to neurodegenerative disease from environmental toxins, could humans be at risk too?

Researchers examined the brains of 20 common bottlenose dolphins that had stranded along Florida’s Indian River Lagoon (IRL) between 2010 and 2019. All of them—adults and juveniles alike—showed signs of exposure to a little-known but potent neurotoxin called 2,4-diaminobutyric acid, or 2,4-DAB.

This compound, a relative of the infamous BMAA toxin, is produced by cyanobacteria—microscopic algae that thrive in warm, nutrient-rich waters and now appear with increasing frequency in coastal bloom events worldwide. Using highly sensitive mass spectrometry, the researchers found that dolphins stranded during harmful algal bloom (HAB) seasons (typically June to November) had up to 2,900 times more 2,4-DAB in their brains than those stranded during non-bloom months.

Dr. David A. Davis, a co-author of the study from the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, said the findings suggest that high levels of toxin exposure may play a role in neurodegenerative disease. While the study doesn’t prove causation, Davis noted that exposure to these toxins is “probably not good for individuals who are at high risk of having Alzheimer’s disease,” as reported by The Times.

Our carelessness giving dolphins dementia is one of the more depressing things I’ve heard recently. *sigh*