SeaWorld announced a year ago that it would end orca breeding at its parks in the U.S. One year later and nearly 8,000 miles away in China, another such program is just getting started. The Chimelong Group, one of the country’s biggest amusement park operators, revealed that it opened a breeding center for orcas on […]
Tag: cetaceans
Dolphins, bats and the evolution of echolocation
A dolphin swimming through the world’s oceans after fish, and a bat flying through the air with its membranous wings to catch insects or eat fruit: at first glance, it looks like no two creatures could be more different. But it turns out they share a superpower – they hunt prey by emitting high-pitched sounds […]
Japanese Whaling: Bad For Cetaceans and Humans Alike
A new analysis shows that Japan’s annual hunt of small whales, dolphins and porpoises is unsustainable and could even drive some species toward extinction while at the same time presenting a real risk to human health. Every year, Japanese whaling ships catch and often times brutally butcher up to 17,000 small whales, dolphins and porpoises […]
Mexico approves measure to save world’s rarest marine mammal
The government of Mexico has taken a decisive step to save the vaquita – a porpoise threatened by extinction – and to promote sustainable fisheries in the upper Gulf of California for the benefit of fishers and their families, says WWF-Mexico. The new regulation, called an official norm, comes after over 38,000 people from 127 […]
Are seagulls killing whales in Patagonia?
It sounds ludicrous, but it could just be true: scientists say seagulls may be responsible for hundreds of southern right whale moralities off the Argentine coastline. Since 2003, scientists have documented the deaths of 605 southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) near Península Valdés which the whales use as a nursery. Notably, 88 percent of these […]
Japan killed record low number of whales
Japan blamed environmental activists for a “record low” take during this year’s whaling season in the Southern Ocean, reports Kyodo News. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said the recent hunt yielded only 103 Antarctic minke whales and no fin whales, according to the agency’s web site. The target had been 1,000 whales for […]