Polar bears are capable of swimming vast distances, a potential survival skill needed in an Arctic environment where summer sea ice is vanishing, a study led by the U.S. Geological Survey showed on Tuesday. The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology, tracked 52 female polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea off Alaska. […]
Author: Nic Slocum
Nic Slocum is an experienced naturalist and wildlife guide and is best known for his escorted tours taking enthusiasts out, both in Ireland and overseas, to view and photograph whales and dolphins. Nic maintains a lifelong passion for using the written word to promote the conservation of our wildlife and wild places and has appeared as an expert commentator on both radio and TV. A zoologist by training, Nic has published articles on conservation related issues in regional and national newspapers. Nic is a director of Whale Watch West Cork.com and Whales World Wide.com
Emerging Economy Growth To Heat Planet Quicker Than Expected
The ongoing rapid industrialization of the world’s advanced developing economies means global emissions of heat-trapping gases will by the end of the decade exceed safe levels by far more than previously expected, according to a report published Friday. The report from PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said global greenhouse gas output will be at least […]
A Fishy Case of Mistaken Identity
An article written by Kim Tingley and Published in On Earth Magazine 16th April 2012… By outward appearances, the scalloped hammerhead and its newly discovered twin are almost impossible to tell apart Live sharks are hard creatures to count. Typically, to get a sense of whether a species is flourishing or dying out, scientists have […]
The Gentle Giants of Baja California Sur
Less than 40 years ago the Pacific gray whale was considered to be on the verge of extinction…and so it was. After years of commercial hunting numbers had been reduced to a level where it was feared that the population was so low that they could not recover. However, within the last five years this […]
The World’s rarest dolphin faces extinction…
With the recent death in January of another Maui’s dolphin by entanglement in static fishing gear cetacean biologists around the globe are resigning themselves to yet another whale species facing extinction within the next few years; joining the recently extinct Yangtze river dolphin and the ranks of other critically endangered marine mammal species like the […]
Snowy Owl “irruption” in North America
Local farmers, amateur birdwatchers and bird researchers have witnessed an unusual and at times disturbing phenomenon recently as huge numbers of snowy owls are migrating south from the Arctic and being seen as far south as Missouri. Such are the increasingly large numbers of this majestic owl species that it is being described as a “mass […]
Is this the beginning of the end of the Canadian commercial seal hunt?
Comments being made in certain quarters of the Canadian politicalhierarchymay indicate that there is a creepingrealisationthat the negative publicity that Canada receives from its adherence to the annual commercial seal hunt is not worth the financial returns obtained from the selling of seal products. Ryan Cleary, a New Democrat MP representing Labrador and Newfoundland has […]
Fin Whales off the Irish south coast…
The second largest mammal of earth, the mighty fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is frequently seen in Irish inshore waters during the autumn and winter months. A pelagic species that spends most of their time well offshore; these large baleen whales move into coastal waters off the southern Irish coastline every year in search of the […]