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10 facts about manatees

June 5, 2010 by 15 Comments

  1. Manatees are marine mammals and breathe air through their nostrils.
  2. Manatees belong to an order of marine mammals called the Sirenians. Dugongs are the other member of this family. Stellar sea cows were also a member of this family, but they were hunted to extinction within 27 years of their discovery.
  3. Manatees can weigh up to 2,000 pounds.
  4. Manatees closest modern relative is the elephant. Evidence of this relationship is easy to spot – both animals have three to four fingernails.
  5. Manatees are typically pretty slow, but, can swim up to 20 mph.
  6. There are four species of manatees: the West Indian Manatee, the Florida Manatee (technically a subspecies of the West Indian species), the Amazonian Manatee and the West African Manatee.
  7. Manatees are credited for being the basis for the mermaid legend.
  8. Manatees are herbivores.
  9. Manatees can live up to 60 years old.
  10. Manatees have no natural predators, but, they are peril. Find out more about their plight at Save the Manatees.

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Filed Under: Marine Mammals Tagged With: , , , ,

Whale songs

June 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

There are two types of whales: baleen and toothed. Baleen whales are the magical creatures that create “songs” under water. The series of high pitched squeals, shrieks, groan and moans can last anywhere up to twenty minutes and be as low as 20 Hz and high as 10,000 Hz.

Male whales (bulls) tend to use song as a means of finding a mate (a female whale is called a cow). But, theses sounds have been recorded and analyzed and findings see that the songs can also be a means to warn other whales of nearby predators or publicize food sources.

Scripps Institute sent out an interesting news release about a study explaining that the sounds of the male blue whales is decreasing as the species is increasing. Their sounds are fewer since the proximity to a mate is lessened.

This increase in the blue whale species is good news and I hope that this continues dispute the debate among the whaling and non-whaling member countries of the International Whaling Commission.

Here is a clip of some musical humpback whales put together by the Oceania Project, a non-profit is Australia that is dedicated to caring for whales, dolphins and the oceans.

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Filed Under: Marine Mammals

‘Drumroll’ means spawning season for some fish species

May 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Did you know the fish species, red drum and black drum (pictured right), are in the same family as spotted sea trout and Atlantic croaker?  All of these fish have an ability to produce a drumming sound on their air bladders … Which, is how they got commons names such as “croaker” and “drum”. This drumming sound is very noticeable during spawning seasons.

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image (c) landbigfish.com

Filed Under: Bony Fishes, Fish, Ocean Tagged With: , , ,

Legitimize whaling in Japan?

February 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

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 …

http://www.panda.org/wwf_news/news/?uNewsID=189581

Filed Under: Marine Mammals

What is the difference between a tern and a gull?

February 7, 2010 by 1 Comment

Wings: Terns have long-pointed wings while gulls have broad wings.
Beaks: Terns have sharp bills while gulls have hooked beaks.
Body size: Terns are smaller.
Predatory practice: Terns dive to water to grab fish while gulls float on water to pick up prey.

Tern (l), Gull (r)

Image (c) cheasapeakebay.net (tern), wikipedia.com (gull)

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Filed Under: Birds Tagged With: , , ,

Heeeeeeeere’s Carson (Rachel)!

February 6, 2010 by 3 Comments

Spring time is right around the corner (or so I hope) and with the change comes migrating birds of course!

One of my favorite sites is a female osprey tending her nest on an uplifted platform.

Each time I see one I am so grateful for Rachel Carson who had the courage and gumption to write Silent Spring. The book was published in 1962 as the launching pad for the environmental movement. The subject matter was the basis to ban the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT, in 1972. Ms. Carson was able to link DDT to a decrease in the thickness of the eggs of large birds of prey, such as the bald eagle and osprey. This led to very few bald eagles and ospreys being born.

Although, sometimes I feel a lot of distress being an environmentalist one major success is the increase in numbers of mating pairs of ospreys since the ban on DDT. I am proud to say that prior the the ban there was fewer than 8,000 pairs and almost thirty years there are approximately 16,000 pairs. This is yet, another reason to say “Go Ospreys!” other than the fact that they are my college mascot.

Image (c) Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Filed Under: Birds, People

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.)

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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!

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

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.

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Image (c) USGS.

Filed Under: Marine Mammals, People