Latest Megafauna Stories
Over a decade of science and industry working together continues to help rare whale species recover SAINT JOHN, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - This year marks the 10(th) anniversary of the International Maritime Organization's adoption of re-routed shipping lanes in the Bay of Fundy, a precedent setting initiative achieved through the collaboration of industry, led by Irving Oil, scientists from the New England Aquarium, government, academics and environmental groups for the...
Low-level radiation has been found in populations of bluefin tuna off the coast of California, a new study has found, noting that the fish are carrying radioactive material from Japanese waters more than 6,000 miles away. Researchers have found “modestly elevated levels” of two radioactive isotopes in bluefin tuna caught off the coast of San Diego in August 2011. They said the tuna picked up the radiation by swimming and feeding in the waters off the coast of Japan where the Fukushima...
SAN DIEGO, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Umami Sustainable Seafood Inc. (OTCBB:UMAM) ("Umami" or the "Company"), a holding company of fish farms supplying sashimi-grade Northern Bluefin Tuna to the global market, announced its third quarter financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012. Third Quarter Highlights Net revenue: $25.6 million Average revenue per kilogram of Bluefin Tuna sold: $29.15 Gross margin: 51.1% Operating income: $9.3 million Net income: $2.6...
Estimates of whale population size based on genetics versus historical records diverge greatly, making it difficult to fully understand the ecological implications of the large-scale commercial whaling of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but a comparison of DNA samples from modern and prehistoric gray whales supports the idea that the population was substantially larger pre-whaling and saw a sharp, recent decrease that is consistent with whaling as the cause. The full results are reported...
Nova Southeastern University graduate student investigates the survival rates of juvenile swordfish under federal catch and release law HOLLYWOOD, Fla., May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jenny Fenton is passionate about swordfish. After all, they are a top ocean predator whose survival is vital to balancing the ocean's ecosystem as well as being an important food source. But years of overfishing in the Florida Straits --- where America's swordfish nursery is located --- have...
A new study of the wandering albatross – one of the largest birds on Earth – has shown that some of the birds are breeding earlier in the season compared with 30 years ago. Reporting online this month (April) in the journal Oikos, a British team of scientists describe how they studied the breeding habits of the wandering albatross on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. They have discovered that because some birds are now laying their eggs earlier, the laying date for the...
TSX-V: ORC.A, ORC.B TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands, April 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Orca Exploration Group Inc ("Orca Exploration" or the "Company") announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2011. Highlights -- Increased proven reserves by 27% to 469 Bcf (2010:369 Bcf) and proven and probable reserves by 22% to 548 Bcf (2010: 451 Bcf) -- Increased sales of Additional Gas by 30% to 17.5 Bcf or 47.8 MMcfd (2010: 13.4 Bcf or...
Lawrence LeBlond for RedOrbit.com In a first of its kind study, researchers from Vanderbilt University found that mammals’ best defense to adapting to climate change was diversity, and families with higher taxonomic diversity were better able to survive ongoing environmental changes. Larisa R. G. DeSantis, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt, led researchers in studying how North American mammals adapted to climate change over a 56-million-year...
Jason Farmer for RedOrbit.com Scientists believe they have made the very first sighting of an adult white killer whale, according to various media reports. The adult male was spotted off the coast of Kamchatka in eastern Russia. Scientists have nicknamed the whale Iceberg. The whale appears to be in good health and is living with a normal pod. Occasionally, white whales of other species are seen, but prior to this sighting, the only known white orcas have been young. The...
Diets rich in meat helped early mother’s wean their babies at an earlier age and allowed them to have more children, behaviors that may have helped humans spread more quickly across the world and had a profound effect on human evolution, according to new research. Researchers from Lund University in Sweden, publishing their work in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, found a clear connection between eating meat and weaning at an earlier age. They discovered that all mammalian species stop...
Latest Megafauna Reference Libraries
The Baikal seal (Pusa sibirica), also known as the nerpa or the Lake Baikal seal, is a true seal in the Phocidae family that is native to Lake Baikal located in Siberia. This species is one of three seals that reside solely in fresh water areas. It is not known exactly how these seals came to inhabit such an isolated area, but some experts assert that a sea-passage was formed that linked the Arctic Ocean and Lake Baikal. The Baikal seal is one of the smallest of all true seal species,...
Image Caption: Fossil of Feresa Attenuata, Shimonoseki Marine Science Museum KAIKYOUKAN, Japan. Credit: OpenCage/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 2.5) The pygmy killer whale is widely distributed in tropical and sub-tropical waters worldwide. Regular sightings of this species occur off the coast of Hawaii and Japan, and also in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka and Lesser Antilles. In the Atlantic the pygmy killer whale has been seen off the coast of South Carolina and Senegal. This species swims in...
The Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii) is a true seal in the Phocidae family, and can only be found on pack ice in Antarctica. This species was formally described by James Clark Ross in 1841, during his British Antarctic Expedition. It is very uncommon to see in its range and rarely leaves the pack ice, with stray individuals occurring off southeast Australia or sub-Antarctic islands. The Ross seal can reach an average length between 5.5 and 6.9 feet, although some females can reach up to 8.2...
The ribbon seal (Histriophoca fasciata) is a true seal within the family Phocidae that can be found in the North Pacific Sea. It prefers a habitat in arctic and subarctic areas like the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea. As is typical to seal species, it will leave the water during the winter and spring months, where it will remain on pack ice to breed, birth pups, and molt. For the rest of the year these seals will live in open water, although some will occasionally move north as the ice...
The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), known as the gray seal in the United States is a species that can be found on shores on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. Its other common names include the Atlantic grey seal and the horsehead seal, because of its elongated nose. It has a large range on the shores of Ireland and Great Britain, with larger populations residing in areas including the Farne Islands near the Northumberland Coast, North Rona near northern Scotland, and Ramsey Island near...
