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 […]
Tag: marine mammals
Munching on marine plastic kills sperm whale
What do children’s toys, balloons, mattresses and plastic bags have in common? They can, along with more non-biodegradable pollutants, be found in the belly of a sperm whale, the topic of a new study in the Marine Pollution Bulletin. The same whale that swallowed Jonah from the Bible, Geppetto from Collodi’s Pinocchio, and the crew […]
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 […]
Ice Age bowhead whales’ survival surprises scientists
Ancient DNA shows that bowhead whales bucked the trend to survive the last Ice Age, say scientists. The demise of cold-adapted land mammals such as mammoths has been linked to rising temperatures around 11,000 years ago. But researchers were surprised to find a contrasting population boom for whales living off the coast of Britain. Their […]
One Woman Stands Up for the Dolphins
Just a few weeks ago, an international campaign to stop the annual gruesome slaughter of dolphins in Japan was initiated by one Scottish woman hoping to make a difference. Shona Lewendon started a petition to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) requesting that Japan be denied the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games until they […]
Removing Walls of Death: Saving Sea Turtles from Drift Nets
An endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle swims through the cold, nutrient-rich waters off California where it has made an impressive journey from its nesting beaches in Indonesia to feed on jellyfish. But, it encounters an unwelcome surprise, a mile long drift net in which its flipper becomes entangled. Because this net sits overnight in the […]
Mammals of Eastern Hokkaido
During our time in Eastern Hokkaido we saw quite a few terrestrial and marine mammals, and managed to get some photos of a couple.