You are here: Home / Search for "sea turtles"

Search Results for: sea turtles

Who are the top celebrity ocean advocates?

February 19, 2009 by 1 Comment
Actor Ted Danson (cropped from original)
Image via Wikipedia

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!

Related articles
Filed Under: Ocean, People, Random Fun!, Test Your Knowledge Tagged With: , , , , , ,

12 truths about diamondback terrapins (please, see #8)

June 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
  1. Each diamondback terrapin is a work of art. Their skin color ranges from pale to dark gray, or even black. The underside of their shell (plastron) ranges from yellow to green, or even black. But, those variations aren’t the reason for its name. If have the opportunity, be sure to check out the mesmerizing diamond-shaped growth rings on top of their shell (carapace).
  2. normal_ian-symbol-malaclemys-centrata_iandotumcesdoteduDiamondback terrapins are native to the eastern and southern United States (just like me)! They are distributed from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Corpus Christi, Texas.
  3. Diamondback terrapins have feet just like Ashton Kutcher. Their feet are robustly webbed, enabling them to be strong swimmers – which they need to be since they live in coastal areas with fluctuating tidal changes.
  4. There is only one terrapin native to the United States that lives exclusively in brackish saltwater marshes and bays … you guessed it, the Diamondback terrapin!
  5. Diamondback terrapins have a mid-life crisis at 20. They can live upwards to 40 years.
  6. Female diamondback terrapins are gladiators compared to the males. The shell of the females will reach up to 12 inches while the males typically reach 6 inches.
  7. Diamondback terrapins feast on meat. That’s right … they’ve only accidentally ingested vegetation (just like my 2yo).  They prefer to dine on blue crabs, snails, mussels, clams, barnacles, or whatever else in common in their range. They are pretty industrious in their ability to crush shells with their uber strong upper and lower jaw.
  8. Female diamondback terrapins might live in the marsh, but they prefer to lay their nests (2 to 3 a year with up to 20 eggs a clutch) on the sand beach from May to July. This is why you’ll often see female terrapins tentatively crossing causeways linking mainland and barrier islands. Please drive the speed limit and slow down (stop!) for nesting female diamondback terrapins. This is the most important fact in this list.
  9. Diamondback terrapins take time to meditate. Ok, well, they remain dormant and slow their metabolism down when they hibernate during the winter by burrowing in the mud of the marshes.
  10. Female terrapins like it hot. A higher temperature of the nest produces more females.
  11. After hatching, young terrapins take their time adapting to life. Some remain in the nest during the winter although the majority enters the nearest body of water.
  12. Habitat loss, boat/car strikes, nest predation (1 to 3% of the eggs laid produce a hatchling), and crab pots are all threats of diamondback terrapins.

Resources/additional information:
http://www.vims.edu/research/units/programs/sea_turtle/va_sea_turtles/terps.php
http://www.aqua.org/explore/animals/diamondback-terrapin
http://www.defenders.org/diamondback-terrapin/basic-facts

 

Filed Under: Reptiles, Terrapins

No balloons at the celebration for the Beach Chair Scientist …

July 13, 2012 by 3 Comments

Today is the fourth birthday of the Beach Chair Scientist blog. Despite the fact that some companies label latex balloons as ‘biodegradable’ and therefore, ‘safe’ for the environment, I will not be decorating any birthday celebration with balloons. Balloons blow! What has been widely spread is that latex balloons breakdown at ‘the same rate as an oak leaf from a tree‘. First, let me explain ‘latex’. Latex is a white tree sap of rubber particles from the plant, Hevae brasiliensis. After it is processed it becomes rubber. Rubber, as we know, is used in a variety of products because of its strong resilience and tear resistance. Balloons are made from latex (essentially, liquid rubber) once colors are added.

It just would not feel like a celebration for Beach Chair Scientist because I have been to countless beach clean-ups and see those latex and mylar balloons, as well as the strings that are tied to them, along the shoreline. Balloons are just not following the path that balloon manufacturers want us to believe. It may be true that research done in a controlled setting proves that when latex balloons rises to almost 30,000 feet they will freeze and bust into tiny slivers that fall back to earth. However, there are just too many natural factors (e.g., trees, wind) that impede balloons from rising to that height prior to losing their helium and flaying to the earth whole. Not to mention that even if latex balloons do break apart into tiny shards the tiny shard are still detrimental to the ocean. According to Sea Turtle Foundation, “Most balloons are made from ‘biodegradable’ latex, which degrades on exposure to air. However degradation can take up to six months and balloons floating in seawater can take up to twelve months to degrade”. In many areas it is illegal for mass balloon releases. Please check out your area for the local laws on balloons.

Here are ten examples of balloons affecting the ocean ecosystem:  

  1. On a New Jersey beach a sperm whale was found dying because it had a balloon in its stomach halting the passage of food.
  2. At a clean-up was on an island 5 miles out to sea – the distance cleaned at the 4 sites we targeted was about 1/2 mile of shoreline – in southern Maine this past June over 550 pounds of marine debris were found, including 232 pieces of debris (9 of which were balloons and one was found right next to a gull’s nest).
  3. Birds will collect plastic debris for their nests, and unknowingly construct death traps for their young.
  4. Balloons, plastic straws, plastic bottles, plastic bags, and metal beverage cans were found to be the most abundant type of marine debris litter as a 10-year national survey completed in 2008.
  5. Most of the trash found along the California coast during a 2003-2010 survey was 82% land-based plastics, including plastic bags, plastic bottles, balloons and straws.
  6. Fishing gear fragments, packaging materials, balloons, bottle caps, and straws were found to be the most common items found during a Cape Cod survey that collected 5,829 items along one-kilometer.
  7. A leatherback turtle starved to death because a latex balloon was stuck in its stomach. After the turtle necropsy, the only thing found in its intestines was three feet of nylon string attached to a balloon.
  8. Animals can become entangled in balloon ribbons and string, restricting their movement and their ability to feed.
  9. Bottlenose dolphins in California, loggerhead turtles in Texas, and a green turtle in Florida were all found dead after ingesting latex balloons.
  10. In the UK, Risso’s dolphins in French waters and fulmars in the North Sea are known to ingest balloons.

If you’re still keen on celebrating with balloons try to do activities where you can control them and not have them released into the atmosphere. You can put prizes inside them or decorate them or play games. Below are are alternatives for decorating and commemorating without balloons. Check out the background image from Orlando Sentinel with the juvenile loggerhead turtle swimming close to the floating balloons.

One last thing, if you’re in the DC area Saturday, July 21st and would like to join me during a stream clean-up with United By Blue please feel free to come along! It’s a great event co-sponsored by Subaru and fun for the whole family. Read this article about my first experience volunteering with them. Please feel free to drop me a line at info@beachchairscientist.com or leave a comment below if you have anything else you like to add to this post or just a question in general.

Filed Under: Animal Homes, Beach, Birds, Conservation, Marine Mammals, People, Sea Turtles Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

What is the mystery of the chambered nautilus?

October 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

“Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1804-1894)

The above is only an excerpt from the poem, “The Chambered Nautilus” by Holmes published in 1858. It only begins to hint at the marvel of this magnificent cephalopod. The chambered nautilus has become breathtaking subject matter for generations of artists and has become a commodity on the commercial trade industry.

The chambered nautilus is a squid that lives inside a shell marked with a brown and white zebra pattern. As the squid grows, the shell grows with it and creates compartments which are used as gas chambers and help the cephalopod rise or sink in the water column. The inside of the shell is lined with an iridescent pearl. In the last chamber of the shell are almost 90 tentacles and large eye peering out. Predators of the chambered nautilus include sharks, turtles, and octopus.

What makes the chambered nautilus so mysterious and sought after? Is it the mother of pearl that lines the inside of the animal’s shell? Is it that the animal represents a far off species only found tropical Indo-Pacific? Or is it that the inside compartments of the chambered nautilus each mirror its smaller and larger part exactly and therefore the animal is an example of the golden rectangle found in nature.

This harmonic progression is an illustration of Fibonacci’s sequence. This is a sequence where the first two numbers in the series are added to create the third number for a series of number that begins 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 and so on forever. This proportional pattern can be seen all over in nature: flower petals, pine cones, and even galaxies. Below is an illustration of the proportion as it relates to the chambered nautilus.

Image (c) top – seasky.org, bottom – http://2muchfun.info

Do you have another interesting question? E-mail info@beachchairscientist.com and let us know what you always ponder while digging your toes in the sand!

Filed Under: Animal Homes, Cephalopods, Random Fun! Tagged With: , ,