Before the Spielberg’s film Jaws was released in 1975, sharks were beautiful and fascinating fish. But the novel and film gave sharks an undeserved reputation as mindless man-eaters – but the truth is far more engaging. Author Michael Bright celebrates the wonder and variety of these ancient, much-misunderstood fish. 35 amazing shark facts 1. How long have […]
Tag: whales
Emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal declared Endangered
Emperor penguins and Antarctic fur seals are both now categorised as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List previously categorised Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) as Near Threatened but satellite images suggest that around 10 per cent of the population (more than 20,000 adults) was lost between 2009 and 2018. The population is expected […]
Rare footage shows whales working together to support mother and her newborn – video
Scientists have managed to film a sperm whale giving birth while other female whales worked together to support the mother and her newborn. A team from Project Ceti, an international effort seeking to understand how whales communicate, was in a boat near a pod of 11 whales off the coast of the Caribbean island of Dominica on […]
“They bore the marks of an attack, including rib fractures, internal haemorrhages and specific teeth marks.” 5 animals that kill excessively – seemingly just for fun
At 10am on 27 June 2018, researchers studying dolphins in a Belize mangrove, witnessed a gruesome spectacle. First, a group of four bottlenose dolphins separated a baby manatee from his mother. Then, one of them attacked the calf, biting it over and over again, and ramming it out of the water. The youngster later died […]
Mass pilot whale stranding in Indonesia raises questions about ocean health
Villagers in central Indonesia rescued 34 short-finned pilot whales following a mass stranding on March 9, but despite their overnight efforts were unable to save 21 others. Mongabay Indonesia’s Ebed De Rosary reports that residents first discovered the pod in the shallow waters off Deranitan village, in East Nusa Tenggara province, at approximately 3:30 p.m. […]
Belugas facing euthanasia at shuttered Canada theme park may find new homes in US
For about three decades, beluga whales and bottlenose dolphins greeted more than a million annual visitors to Marineland of Canada. In the sprawling 162-hectare (400-acre) theme park, located a stone’s throw from the world-famous Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada, dozens of cetaceans enthralled visitors — splashing, spyhopping and leaping in their concrete-lined tanks. Marineland’s peppy jingle, […]
A rare bright spot for whales: Decades of conservation pay off for endangered population in Canada
Populations of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus), playful animals that resemble large dolphins, stretch across the Atlantic Ocean, with each group of whales living year-round in a particular deep ocean canyon. Historically, commercial whaling targeted these animals, causing their numbers across the basin to collapse. Even as protections against whaling increase, northern bottlenose whale populations […]
A dead whale shows up on your beach. What do you do with the 40-ton carcass?
When a whale dies, its body descends to the bottom of the deep sea in a transformative phenomenon called a whale fall. A whale’s death jump-starts an explosion of life, enough to feed and sustain a deep-ocean ecosystem for decades. There are a lot of ways whales can die. Migrating whales lose their way and, […]