Yes, there has been a draft compromise made that would make it ok for whales to be taken from the oceans for “scientific research” in Japan.
Read more here …
Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
Yes, there has been a draft compromise made that would make it ok for whales to be taken from the oceans for “scientific research” in Japan.
Read more here …
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.
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Environmental News Network sent a news release out today about a new report that states how Orca orca may die off if the numbers of king salmon continue to drop.
The research was published in the Royal Society Biology Letters. The leading cause of the death of the killer whales is actually “nutritional stress” from not being able to find the king salmon. So that is potentially what could happen to me when I do not get a happy fixing of peanut butter once in a while.
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Nope, here is a short list of terms used to describe certain groups of ocean animals when they congregate together.
Jellyfish swim in a smack.
Whales swim in a pod.
Herring swim in a seige.
Penguins walking together on land is called a waddle.
Have a great question that needs a concise and comical answer? Email info@beachchairscientist.com and let us know what you always ponder while digging your toes in the sand!
Wow! What a fun question to research, thank you! (You’ll surely notice I was picky because there are many environmental activists in Hollywood but and tried to keep the list to those that focus on primarily oceans.)
I am such a fan of giving back no matter how much I believe we all make a difference. I find myself giving my time to local clean-ups, making contributions to Surfrider Foundation, National American Association of Environmental Education, or Mid-Atlantic Marine Educators Associations, and just in general pitching in where I can.
Here is a list of some celebrity ocean advocates.
Ted Danson, recently appeared before the House Committee on Natural Resources to testify again off-shore drilling. Board member of Oceana.
Sam Waterston board member of Oceana.
Pierce Brosnan donates his time and energy to Oceana, Waterkeeper Alliance, Ocean Futures Society, California Coastal Protection Network, among many others.
Cousin Jennifer did some lobbying and convinced me to put Hayden Panettiere on the list. She is an outspoken advocate for marine mammals (including I think a brief brush with the law for some protesting with Greenpeace). One of her main organizations for this platform is Save the Whales Again.
I know also that musician Jack Jackson has done quite a bit on behalf of the oceans.
For all the people listed above I’d like to say ‘thank you’ for giving a prominent voice to the oceans.
Added 5/9: By default I think that Ewan McGregor can be added to the list since he is rumored to play Paul Watson, founder of Greenpeace, in ‘Ocean Warrior‘.
Please feel free to let me know if you think of others. Just e-mail info@beachchairscientist.com!
WOW! I wish I had the answer to that one…And, also, that reminds me of why I tend to answer the scientific based questions first. However, I do like a challenge and a reason to search for up-to-date information. I found these two articles on a subscription site that provide some insight to the question…
OCEANS: Warming oceans driving fish toward poles — study (02/13/2009)
Climate change could push more than 1,000 species of commercial fish and shellfish away from tropical waters and toward polar oceans, according to a new study.
By studying projected ocean changes, researchers predicted that by 2050, marine species will migrate toward cooler waters at an average rate of between 40 kilometers and 45 kilometers (25 miles and 28 miles) per decade.
“These are major impacts that we are going to see within our lifetime and our children’s lifetime,” said William Cheung, a marine biologist at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and lead author of the study, which is to be published this week in the journal Fish and Fisheries. “Climate change provides us with a kick in the pants. We can’t think about climate change and biodiversity without thinking about the impact it will have on people.”
The migrations could cause massive food shortages and make fish move away from developing equatorial countries where millions depend on them as their primary source of protein (Azadeh Ansari, CNN.com, Feb. 12).
Global warming disrupting whale migrations — scientists
Gray whales along the West Coast are lingering longer in the north before making their swim to tropical waters for the summer, scientists and whale watchers say.
Every year, grays make a 12,000-mile round-trip migration from warm waters off Baja California to Arctic seas between Alaska and Russia, where they gorge themselves on enough crustaceans to keep them nourished for the rest of the year.
But as the Arctic seas warm because of climate change, competition from new species may be forcing whales to spend more time gathering nourishment and delaying their return to the tropics by an average of 10 days per year, according to Wayne Perryman, a researcher at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif., where scientists have watched whales for 20 years.
Perryman said the change was significant but did not know how the whales’ new schedule would affect the population over time. “The Arctic environment is so darn dynamic,” he said. “We just don’t know how this will play out” (Michael Torrice, Miami Herald, Feb. 12). – PR
Stories compiled from Greenwire
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The whale shark is the biggest fish on the planet. The largest whale shark measures about 66 feet long and 74,957 pounds.
Not to be confused with the blue whale, a mammal, which is the largest animal on the planet. The largest blue whale measured about 110 feet and up to 400,000 pounds!
The whale shark got its name because the shark’s mouth is shaped just like baleen whales. Baleen whales and whale sharks both munch on krill. For being the largest fish in the sea the whale shark is surprisingly affable to divers and known as a relaxed fish.
How are ‘whale sharks’ and ‘whales’ different?
Whales are mammals, just like people, and must breathe air. Dolphins, seals, porpoises, otters (and some people say, polar bears) are mammals that live in the ocean (ie., marine mammals). Consult the aquarium guide for more details.
Another difference is that mammals raise their young. Whale sharks give live birth like mammals, but, move on right after and don’t raise them. Most other fish do lay eggs.
Fish also have gills to breathe underwater, unlike mammals that must come up to the surface of the ocean and breathe air.
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