A Whale of a Time?

I don’t usually post other people’s blogs, but if you are living in the L.A. area, take a ride to the Santa Monica pier and join in the festivities:

On February 18th and 19th our aquarium under the Santa Monica Pier will be hosting “A Whale of a Weekend,” celebrating the annual gray whale migration along our coast. Read the rest of this entry »

Some times I amazed at the press and their PR antics.

You see this all too often. Sensationalism done for notoriety's sake.

Earlier this week, a YouTube video caught the eyes of people all over the internet world. The video captured two things if you look closely: the creation of a ‘bubble net’ used by Humpback whales to corral fish they are about to eat, and then the actual surfacing, or breaching, of Humpback whales between two kayakers and a woman on a paddle board.

It was a rare shot and actually a good one. But then the Press loves controversy:

“Woman Almost Swallowed by Whale!”

Well, sort of. Nearly doesn’t really say that she was swallowed. But anyone reading the headline bites the proverbial lie and goes to the site where such an untruth has been dealt. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently there was an article stating that whales might be using celestial mechanics on their yearly migratory routes.

The article noted that after an eight-year study, the migratory patterns varied by less than 5 degrees!

Previously it had been thought that whales followed geo-magnetic patterns or sun tracking mechanisms. However in turbulent waters neither method actually works.

The question begins to rise – just how smart are whales?

We already know that whales now do have names for each other. We also know that the females experience menopause just as humans do. And then there are varying social hierarchies with the pods of whales. Additionally whales have been videoed training their young to hold their breath under water, as that is not a natural-born trait and must be learned.

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It turns out that the wavelength of neutrino oscillations is about the same as the wavelength of whale songs.

That fortunate cosmic coincidence has led to a collaboration between particle physicists and biophysicists. To quote the CERN press release as quoted by Charles Day

“European astroparticle physicists are developing together KM3NeT, a large undersea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, dedicated to tracking neutrinos from astronomical sources. The deployment of deep sea neutrino detection lines for current experiments such as Antarès in France, Nemo in Italy and Nestor in Greece has opened up the possibility of also installing monitoring devices for the permanent study of the deep sea environment: studies of ocean currents, of bioluminescence, of fauna and of seismic activity.”

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In a recent blog of mine, I alerted you all to a recent change of possible events with a Humpback Whale being spotted in Madasgascar.

One of my readers asked, “is this dangerous?”

Interesting point. It is of no danger to the whale, in one sense. But my experience with some scientists and researchers is that they are very “set” in how they view things. When an unusual event occurs they immediately hypothesize, opinionate, etc., as to what could possibly be “wrong” with a whale being spotted in Madagascar.

Scientists, researchers and man know what is wrong with whales and dolphins. They have been monitoring whale migrations for years. They also have been tracking the numbers of whales each year and know that the whale population is decreasing, due to man. That is the danger. That is why all whales are endangered. Read the rest of this entry »

Just this past week, researchers announced the discovery that dolphin DNA and human DNA aren’t that dissimilar! In fact a dolphin’s genetic makeup:

“ …is amazingly similar to humans. They’re closer to us than cows, horses, or pigs, despite the fact that they live in the water.”, as quoted by Seema Kumar of Discovery Channel Online.

“The extent of the genetic similarity came as a real surprise to us,” says David Busbee of Texas A&M University. He hopes his research will reveal how long ago humans and dolphins branched off the evolutionary tree. There’s been some speculation that dolphins and whales, who breathe air, may have returned to the water AFTER first evolving into land animals.

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A recent newspaper article in the SPOKESMAN REVIEW, noted that a lone female humpback whale has confounded scientists by traveling a route completely opposite to the normal migration patterns of the species:

“While humpbacks normally migrate along a north-to-south axis to feed and mate, this one – affectionately called AHWC No. 1363 – made the unusual decision to check out a new continent thousands of miles to the east.

Marine ecologist Peter Stevick says it probably wasn’t love that motivated her – whales meet their partners at breeding sites, so it’s unlikely that this one was following a potential mate.

“It may be that this is an extreme example of exploration,” he said. “Or it could be that the animal got very lost.” Read the rest of this entry »

One of the divers on the rescue team works on the crab pot lines that held the female humpback whale near the Farallon Islands. The weight of the crab pots was pulling the animal down. Marine Mammal Center photo via Associated Press

Some of you may have heard about a recent endangered humpback whale being saved off the coast of San Francisco. It is a very touching story and once again, points up to the awareness and sentience of these wonderful creatures:

A humpback whale freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands nudged its rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter.

Sunday’s daring rescue was the first successful attempt on the West Coast to free an entangled humpback, said Shelbi Stoudt, stranding manager for the Marine Mammal Center in Marin County.

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The prosperity of the early American colonies and its Industrial Revolution was no doubt fueled by incredible massacres of whales: I million sperm whales, 384,000 blues, 275,000 humpbacks, 92,000 bowheads and 10,000 North Atlantic Right Whales. This does not include Japanese whaling.

The above numbers of remaining whales are staggering when one considers what is now left in our oceans today: 500-1,000 North Atlantic Right Whales, 8,000 Bowhead, 12,000 Blue Whales, 10,000 humpbacks and 200,000 sperm whales. When one considers the quantities of whales prior to 1900, one can actually see why ALL whales are endangered.

During that time, whales were hunted for their oil, wax and baleen. However, with the discovery of petroleum, whale hunting is no longer advancing at a rapid pace. That may seem favorable; not when one compares the populations of whales before the 1900’s.

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