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Huddle Up!

January 26, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I am bringing you a post about Emperor penguins. I realize these penguins do not visit the beach (they live on the ice of Antarctica). But, if you enjoy the beach, you may have watched The Blue Planet and I am sharing one of my favorite clips from the series.

It is a clip where the Emperor penguins demonstrate their defense mechanism of huddling in quite a dramatic fashion. In this clip they are vigilantly monitoring the whereabouts of their predator the Leopard seal. The main reason they tend to huddle up is to protect themselves from the wind and conserve warmth. They take turns being on the outskirts of the huddle.

(Also, note the delicious breakfast of champions the mama penguins brings make to her baby: fish from the sea, freshly regurgitated.)

Do you have another great question for the Beach Chair Scientist? E-mail info@beachchairscientist.com or just let us know at http://www.beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Birds, Marine Mammals

Can I adopt a whale?

January 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Of course! Now, do not expect to take a whale home. There is no way your tub can fit a marine mammal comfortably, plus, taking care of a salt water tank is all too fussy.

If you are willing to donate the money you can do just about anything in the world. Adopting a whale is something I highly recommend for a classroom or family project. My fifth grade class adopted a humpback whale (named Pegasus). From the organization that my teacher used to adopt the whale the class received annual letters on the migration of Pegasus. This was a fabulous way to conceptualize currents and migration patterns. I am pretty sure my younger brother’s class adopted her baby.

The well established non-profit, Save the Whales, has a great program to adopt killer whales.

Do you have another great question for the Beach Chair Scientist? E-mail info@beachchairscientist.com or just let us know at http://www.beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Marine Mammals, Random Fun!

What is a Marine Protected Area (MPA)?

January 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment

“A marine protected area (MPA) in the ocean is similar in concept to what a national park is on the terrestrial environment.” Shifting Baselines

There are many terms that mean ‘MPA’, including: sanctuaries, parks, preserves, or natural areas. All of these areas have some boundary in the oceans and are protected by either the Department of the Interior (National Park Service) or the Department of Commerce (National Ocean Atmospheric Administration).

Not all MPAs are completely closed off for human use. Each MPA has various characteristics delineated to it based upon the best circumstances for various stakeholders.

The characteristics are 1) conservation (natural, cultural and/or sustainable), 2) protection level (zoned, zoned with no-take areas, uniformed, no take, no impact, or no access), 3) permanence of protection (permanent, conditional, or temporary), 4) constancy of protection (year-round, seasonal, or rotating), 5) ecological scale of protection (ecosystem or focal resource).

Cape Hatteras, N.C. was the first marine protected area established in 1975.

MPAs are not new management tools but are gaining new momentum as a conservation tool. Watch this PSA with folks from Scrubs, January Jones, and Pierce Brosnan about supporting MPAs off California.

If you have another great question go ahead and e-mail info@beachchairscientist.com or just enter it at http://www.beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Animal Homes, Biodiversity, Coral Reef Ecosystems, Ocean, People

Why are some animals ‘wallflowers’ and others are ‘social butterflies’?

January 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment

An animal has many reasons to behave more like a ‘wallflower’ vs. a ‘social butterfly’. Some of the more universal reasons to lean to one behavior more than the other would be 1) habitat, 2) predators or 3) availability of food.

For instance, river dolphins (pictured right) typically are solitaire animals because their habitat is smaller than that of the bottlenose dolphins that live in the open ocean. Bottlenose dolphins are highly social animals. Living in a group works to their benefit in the open ocean. A group can be more aware of predators that are nearby and they are able to work together to gather food. Food is rather tough to gather if you are just one mid-size animal in the expansive sea.

If you have another other great question for the Beach Chair Scientist, please e-mail info@beachchairscientist.com or just enter your question at http://www.beachchairscientist.com.

Image (c) botswanagallery.org.

Filed Under: Marine Mammals

Ninja-like crustacean

January 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Excerpt from the Blue Planet.

Do you have a question for the Beach Chair Scientist? e-mail info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Crustaceans, Ocean

Answers to “Test your knowledge of sea stars”

January 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Answers to “Test your knowledge of sea stars” from December 31, 2009.

True or False: Sea stars are fish. They are echinoderms, a group of invertebrates. Invertebrates have no backbones. All fish have backbones.
True or False: Sea stars are closely related to sea cucumbers, sea urchins and brittle stars.
True or False: Sea stars have a flexible skeleton.
True or False: Sea stars breathe through gills. They breathe through a water vascular system. You can see the tube feet (a main component of the water vascular system) on the underside of the sea stars.
True or False: Sea stars can regenerate most body parts.

Congrats to all those that got them correct!

Filed Under: Echinoderms, Ocean, Random Fun!, Test Your Knowledge

A plea of the manatee

January 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In early 2009 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) reported that there was a significant increase in the population of the West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus), a marine mammal. Almost a year later it was reported that there was a record number of deaths of manatees.

Even though the FWCC pointed out that there may have been more manatees reported in the 2009 populations since the count was done after several cold fronts had clustered the manatees together, was there too much confidence in the public after hearing the news that the public didn’t think they had to participate in best practices to save the manatee? Just an idea.

What are those best practices? Follow no wake signs and do not enter prohibited wildlife sanctuaries, do not feed or touch manatees from a boat, and use snorkel gear (it is not as loud and intrusive to the manatees). Call 1-888-404-FWCC if you were to see an injured, dead, tagged or orphaned manatee.

Do you have a question for the Beach Chair Scientist? E-mail info@beachchairscientist.com.

Image (c) USGS.

Filed Under: Marine Mammals, People

Mass stranding of whales in Italy

January 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment

http://www.istitutotethys.org/gargano/

They suspect a high ingestion rate of plastic bags.

Do you have a question for the Beach Chair Scientist? E-mail info@beachchairscientist.com

Filed Under: Marine Mammals

Test your knowledge: Sea stars

December 31, 2009 by 2 Comments
Sea star and sea urchin

Image by B.K. Dewey via Flickr

1. True or False: Sea stars are fish.
2. True or False: Sea stars are closely related to sea cucumbers, sea urchins and brittle stars.
3. True or False: Sea stars have a flexible skeleton.
4. True or False: Sea stars breathe through gills.
5. True or False: Sea stars can regenerate most body parts.

(Answers can be found here.)

Have a question for the Beach Chair Scientist? E-mail info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Echinoderms, Random Fun!, Test Your Knowledge Tagged With: ,

Swiped bass

November 23, 2009 by 3 Comments

The striped bass (Morone saxatilis) is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state saltwater fish of New York and New Hampshire. The fish is commonly referred to as the rockfish. The fish supports a $6.5 billion per year industry with 60,000 jobs as a recreational game species. Read more about this in the November 22, 2009 article in the Washington Times, “Anglers serve time for black-market rockfish trade” by Jim McElhatton.

Image (c) Fish and Wildlife Service via wikimedia

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Filed Under: Bony Fishes, Fish, People