Latest Marine mammals Stories
The remains of a fin whale found impaled on the bow of a cruise ship when it arrived in Vancouver has been towed to sea to provide nourishment for marine life. Paul Cottrell of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the carcass was lowered into the depths Monday somewhere west of Vancouver Island in the Pacific Ocean, The Victoria Times Colonist reported. There, it will provide food for other ocean animals. The whale, more than 60 feet long, was emaciated but still weighed about 70 tons...
A decrease in California's endangered sea otter population likely means their water has grown more contaminated, scientists said. In a survey taken this spring, 2,654 otters were counted from Point Conception in the Santa Barbara area north to Half Moon Bay, about a 250-mile range, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a release Thursday. The count was the lowest single-year total since 2003, when an estimated 2,200 otters were counted. The sea otters are counted in the spring and fall, with...
The World Conservation Society in New York says while cancer touches the lives of many humans, it is also a major threat to wild animal populations. Cancer is one of the leading health concerns for humans, accounting for more than 10 percent of human deaths, said Dr. Denise McAloose, the WCS study's lead author and chief pathologist for its Global Health Program. But we now understand that cancer can kill wild animals at similar rates. The scientists said cancer is threatening the survival...
We can only marvel at the way that dolphins, whales and porpoises scythe through water. Their finlike flippers seem perfectly adapted for maximum aquatic agility. However, no one had ever analysed how the animals' flippers interact with water; the hydrodynamic lift that they generate, the drag that they experience or their hydrodynamic efficiency. Laurens Howle and Paul Weber from Duke University teamed up with Mark Murray from the United States Naval Academy and Frank Fish from West Chester...
A national park established to protect groups of dolphins and whales - recently discovered mingling and feeding off East Timor - may soon be funded by the young Asian country's own government, AFP reported.However, some foreign assistance will be required to preserve the area and develop eco-tourism in one of the few places in the world with such a wide variety of large sea mammals, officials said.Officials in Dili said aerial surveys of the hotspot from scientists at the Australian Institute...
Mexico's swine flu crisis, coupled with its reeling economy, may end a plan to save the world's most endangered cetacean.The vaquita, the world's smallest cetacean, has seen its population dwindle to 150, and nearly 30 more die each year due to fishing nets.Mexican officials have cut funding aimed to make fishing boats vaquita-friendly.The endangered cetacean illustrates the problem with other dolphins and porpoises around the world, say campaigners.Currently, scientists, environmentalists,...
MADEIRA, Portugal, June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the opening day of the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), conservationists including "Save the Whales Again!" Campaign spokesperson Hayden Panettiere and renowned whale researcher Dr. Roger Payne call on the IWC to end to all commercial and scientific research whaling by Japan, Norway, and Iceland while also calling on Japan and the Faroe Islands to stop killing dolphins, porpoise, and other small whales...
An environmental advocacy group says it plans to file a lawsuit against the federal government in an attempt to force legislators to put in place additional protective measures for Arctic seals.In a notice of intent sent to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week, the Center for Biological Diversity say it intends to sue the agency for missing a federally mandated deadline for a decision regarding whether ringed, bearded and spotted seals will be added to the endangered...
Researchers have confirmed the first ever sighting of a white southern elephant seal on a sub-Antarctic beach, BBC News reported.Unusual colors are more common in eared seals such as sea lions and fur seals, but such a thing is rare for true seals, a group that includes elephant seals.The journal Polar Biology published details of the seal, which has creamy white fur but normal brown eyes and nose.Ryan Reisinger of the University of Pretoria in South Africa, one of the researchers who...
Researchers have reported witnessing adult tucuxi dolphins trying to kill a newborn calf of their own species in what is known as the first record of these dolphins attempting infanticide, BBC News reported.While it is often noted in various mammal species, infanticide is rarely recorded among cetaceans, the group of animals that includes whales and dolphins.Experts say the behavior has only been reported two other times in bottlenose dolphins, yet now they believe it may be much more...
Latest Marine mammals Reference Libraries
The marine otter (Lontra feline) is a member of the weasel family, and can be found in South America. It prefers a habitat in rocky coastal areas, with a range that includes the entire coastline of Chile and extends to southern Peru and Argentina. It has been found on the Falkland Islands, but individuals here do not represent a constant population. Unlike other species of otter, the marine otter chooses to live near waters with high winds and swells. It may use caves and crevices as dens,...
The crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus) is a true seal that can be found around the whole of Antarctica. Its range also includes small areas in South America, New Zealand, Africa, and Australia. It resides on the pack ice zone for the entire year, even as it shifts seasonally, and prefers to stay in the continental shelf area in water with a depth of less than 1,968 feet. Because the populations are so wide spread and are sufficiently mixed, there have been no subspecies found. Because...
The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is a rare pinniped, or “fin-footed mammal” that can be found in areas of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as in the Atlantic waters of the Tropic of Cancer. Not much is known about the chosen land habitats of this seal, but until the 20th century, it could be seen relaxing or pup rearing on open beaches. It now dwells in underwater caves and caverns in order to escape human actions including tourism and expansion. The Mediterranean monk...
Profilicollis is a genus of acanthocephalan parasites that are found in crustaceans and shorebirds. Profilicollis parasites use decapod crustaceans as intermediate hosts and species of shorebirds as definitive hosts. The parasite first develops in mole crabs of North and South America. After it infects a mole crab, it becomes dormant until the crab is eaten by a suitable bird, such as a Surf scoter or Herring Gull. Once the parasite has passed through the stomach of the bird, it develops...
The Chinese white dolphin, otherwise known as the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, is a species of humpback dolphin that can be found in the waters of Southeast Asia. When breeding, they will travel to the waters around South Africa to Australia. There are currently two recognized subspecies of the Chinese white dolphin. The coloring of the Chinese white dolphin can vary due to age and location. When born, calves are actually black, but will change to grey, then pink with white spotting,...
