--- title: BP Oil Spill Killed Bottlenose Dolphins description: Lung and adrenal lesions found on dead bottlenose dolphins are consistent with the effects of petroleum exposure. canonical: https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-21T12:20:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:08:03.852Z article:section: Science og:title: The BP Oil Spill Killed a Lot of Dolphins og:description: Lung and adrenal lesions were found on dead dolphins og:url: https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00e512e94fbe378c/698851188e0601f4744609bb/ap100506130978.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2840 og:image:height: 1598 og:image:alt: Oil from the leaking Deep Horizon oil rig is seen swirling through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6, 2010. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The BP Oil Spill Killed a Lot of Dolphins twitter:description: Lung and adrenal lesions were found on dead dolphins twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00e512e94fbe378c/698851188e0601f4744609bb/ap100506130978.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The BP Oil Spill Killed a Lot of Dolphins > Sponsored content. 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Climate Change_ by [Claire Zillman / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Claire Zillman / Fortune Fortune May 21, 2015 12:20 PM UTC A new study says there is a direct link between the biggest oil spill in history and mass dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico. by [Claire Zillman / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Claire Zillman / Fortune Fortune May 21, 2015 12:20 PM UTC The explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 had a deadly effect on at least one ocean dweller: bottlenose dolphins. [A new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/science/dolphin-deaths-in-gulf-of-mexico-linked-to-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region%C2%AEion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&%5Fr=1) released Wednesday said lung and adrenal lesions found on dead bottlenose dolphins that were stranded along the Gulf coast from June 2010 through December 2012 are consistent with the effects of exposure to petroleum products after an oil spill. The report supports earlier studies that suggested a link between the oil spill that gushed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf over the course of 87 days and mass dolphin deaths in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. [BP recently settled claims](http://fortune.com/2015/05/21/bp-settles-oil-spill-related-claims-with-halliburton-transocean/) with oil services provider Halliburton and contract driller Transocean related to the spill. [_This article originally appeared on Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com/2015/05/21/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/"},"headline":"The BP Oil Spill Killed a Lot of Dolphins","datePublished":"2015-05-21T12:20:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T09:08:03.852Z","description":"Lung and adrenal lesions were found on dead dolphins","url":"https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/","keywords":["Environment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00e512e94fbe378c/698851188e0601f4744609bb/ap100506130978.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Claire Zillman / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00e512e94fbe378c/698851188e0601f4744609bb/ap100506130978.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oil from the leaking Deep Horizon oil rig is seen swirling through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6, 2010.","caption":"Oil from the leaking Deep Horizon oil rig is seen swirling through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6, 2010.","creditText":"Dave Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/","name":"The BP Oil Spill Killed a Lot of Dolphins"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Black Death: BP Oil Spill Blamed For Dolphin Die-Off","description":"A new study says there is a direct link between the biggest oil spill in history and mass dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WXyoXbOI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-21T18:10:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WXyoXbOI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/","duration":"PT1M37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: A Timelapse of Climate Change","description":"Climate Change","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ywHiuC83/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-05-09T17:46:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ywHiuC83.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/","duration":"PT48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3892154/bp-oil-spill-dolphin-deaths/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```