Hundreds of sea lions are turning up dead on Chile's shores.

According to marine researchers, more than 100 South American sea lions, or Otaria flavescens, have washed up on the shore of a small peninsula in northern Chile during the past three months, CNN reported. The location of the dead animals is in the area of the Mejillones Peninsula in the province of Antofagasta, where marine studies are commonly conducted by researchers.

"This is happening along the entire coast of northern Chile and we're getting reports that it's also happening in Peru, our neighbor to the north," researcher Carlos Guerra-Correa said in an interview with CNN. "We could be talking about hundreds of sea lions washing up ashore dead in the entire region."

Guerra-Correa, the director of the Regional Center for Environmental Studies and Education at Antofagasta University, noted that the majority of the dead sea lions are newborns, but adults and juveniles were also found. He told CNN that some of the young sea lions they found "still had their umbilical cords attached" and one "with a placenta."

The recent sea lion deaths is part of a more extensive die-off currently taking place on South America's Pacific coast, the news outlet wrote.

Cause of Death

Guerra-Correa blamed the sea lions' deaths on a number of factors, including lack of food sources, CNN noted. Over-fishing is an issue as well because it intensely lessens the sea lions and other marine animals' feeding options.

The weather is also the culprit. The El Niño phenomenon across the Pacific brings forth warm water to Chilean coasts. Unlike colder water, this warm water does not carry an abundance of phytoplankton, which is the food source of sardines and anchovies that sea lions consume. As a result, sea lions' food chain becomes unsettled and the animals end up starving to death, the news outlet added.

"Starvation is primarily affecting female sea lions in the latter stages of pregnancy. That's why their babies are dying at birth or being miscarried," said Guerra-Correa, as reported by CNN.

El Niño a Threat

According to a report from BBC, the El Niño phenomenon also affects Indonesia, Australasia, the Galapagos and even as far away as Europe. The weather pattern occurs every two to seven years, but the global climate change has been intensifying El Niño's effects.

With a year of intense El Niño, islands could receive 15 times as much rain as in a regular season, the news outlet added. This increased rainfall benefits terrestrial animal populations because plant growth increases, but the same cannot be said for marine creatures such as sea lions, penguins, marine iguanas and seabirds.