In a new study of large whales in East Greenland, researchers have documented a dramatic biodiversity shift: minke whales, fin whales and humpback whales, once rarely seen in these waters, have now become abundant. The research, conducted by Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and colleagues in Greenland, Denmark and Iceland, presents a striking example of […]
Tag: Narwhal
“There we were, being ambushed by a probably very hungry polar bear, in a boat with no engine and no means of protecting ourselves…”
In June 2017, I travelled to the high Arctic in Northern Canada on a shoot for the Netflix series Our Planet with director Sophie Lanfear, says documentary cinematographer Jamie McPherson. The further north you go, the smaller the planes get. You hop from community to community, until snow and ice cover everything as far as the eye can […]
With Sea Ice Melting, Killer Whales Are Moving Into the Arctic
In the winter of 2020, Inuit hunters in Canada‘s Central Arctic came across the frozen carcasses of 11 beached bowhead whales, enormous marine mammals that have made a slow but steady comeback since they were driven to the brink of extinction by late 19th and early 20th century whalers. Unsure of what killed the whales, […]
We need a North Pole Marine Reserve to secure a healthy future for Arctic waters (commentary)
In the 1990s, a single moratorium announcement wiped out an entire industry, leaving 37,000 people unemployed overnight. The ecological collapse of the Canadian Grand Banks Cod Fisheries is the most famous historical example of a collapse in fish stocks due to overfishing. Not only were cod stocks severely depleted, it was the largest layoff of […]
Last Chance Tourism in Canada Raises Environmental Concerns
In Canada‘s breathtaking Arctic, a new kind of tourism is sparking debate. Known as “last chance tourism,” travelers are flocking to witness the melting landscapes and unique wildlife before they’re potentially gone forever. However, this surge in visitors is not without controversy. Source: CBS Mornings/YouTube Pond Inlet, a small village in Nunavut, has become […]
Research suggests that menopause explains why some female whales live so long
Females of some whale species have evolved to live drastically longer lives so they can care for their families, new research shows. The study focused on five whale species that—along with humans—are the only mammals known to go through menopause. The paper, published in the journal Nature, is titled “The evolution of menopause in toothed […]
Rapidly warming oceans have left many northern marine mammals swimming in troubled waters. But perhaps none more so than than the strange and mysterious “unicorn of the sea,” the narwhal.
An exhaustive new study estimates, habitat suitable to narwhals could shrink by a staggering twenty-five percent by century’s end. Thanks to manmade climate change, their watery home is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. And, in a scant few decades, sea-ice, so vital to their survival, could be gone altogether during Arctic summers. Narwhals […]