600
Protecting dolphins with VR.
578
A system of marine sanctuaries.
618
Rescuing distressed wildlife.
462
An orca is rescued by mindful volunteers.
431
Photographers assist conservation.
663
A tiny porpoise could soon be extinct.
412
A rare whale filmed in the Azores.
473
Whales like to play as well.
631
A new dolphin found living in plain sight.
522
The Dolphin in the Mirror is a newly published book by marine mammal researcher Diana Reiss, dolphin research director at Baltimore's National Aquarium. Her radio interview on the Diane Rehm Show was an excellent introduction to marine mammal intelligence and issues of dolphin conservation worldwide. It is well worth capturing the podcast for later listening.
In particular, the interview focused on self recognition in dolphins-- one of the cognitive psychological keys to an animals ...
448
Beluga whales are a rare species of cetaceans living in the Arctic Ocean. They are famous for their pure white coloration-- an evolutionary adaptation to their icy habitat --and big eyes. Who expected belugas to have musical tastes, much less for the catchy calypso tunes played by a mariachi band from Connecticut. Go figure:
For those inclined, here's your chance to rock-out along with the dancing beluga.
WHB
455
Gray whales were nearly hunted to extinction during the whaling days of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Their recovery off the West Coast is a good thing and sightings are more common from a robust population now. Typically, whales are not seen swimming in rivers but a gray whale mother and her calf decided to swim up the the Klamath River in northern California anyway.
It's a mystery why the whales decided to go up river. Maybe they were trying to escape from a killer whale (orca) ...
520
In the early 19th century, the "right" whale was the one that didn't run from whaling boats and floated to the surface when harpooned. Records indicate 30,000 of these huge mammals once migrated from the Antarctic to calving grounds along New Zealand coastal coves annually. Hunting of right whales virtually eliminated the species from the southern oceans by the 1840s, as it did to the world's other two subspecies.
[caption id="attachment_5064" align="aligncenter" width="640" ...
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Most of us think about opera in New York City as occurring on the stages of Lincoln Center . However, an "ocean opera", performed by whales, has now been taped and makes us think more broadly about singing venues around the city.
[caption id="attachment_3965" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="humpback whale recording source: file image"][/caption]
In a gig worthy of the any world stage, researchers from the bio-acoustics labs at Cornell University have recorded the songs of ...
548
We are reminded that Earth Day is today. Two examples illustrate the meaning of this day.
Established in 1970, Earth Day was originally intended "to inspire awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment". This was a worthy objective considering our dependence on the natural ecosystems that sustain us all. Today is also the first anniversary of the explosion/sinking of the Deep Water Horizon drilling platform that resulted in one of the biggest oil spills ever. This ...