Category: Whales

Conservation Japan Ocean Science Whales

The strangeness of Japan’s decision to start openly hunting whales

sudshr47 December 30, 2018

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Each year, Japanese whalers haul hundreds of harpooned whales aboard their giant 8,145-ton vessel, the Nisshin Maru. And for decades, they’ve killed most of these whales in the open Antarctic seas, under the guise of performing scientific “research.”

But now Japan is changing course, in a curious way.

On Wednesday Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced that the nation will retreat from killing whales in the Antarctic waters. Instead, the Japanese have dropped the pretense of hunting whales for research and say they will strictly hunt whales in waters around Japan — mostly for the whales’ meat. Read more…

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Artificial Intelligence Conservation Google Government GreenTech machine learning Science Whales

Google AI listens to 15 years of sea-bottom recordings for hidden whale songs

sudshr47 October 29, 2018

Google and a group of game cetologists have undertaken an AI-based investigation of years of undersea recordings, hoping to create a machine learning model that can spot humpback whale calls. It’s part of the company’s new “AI for social good” program that’s rather obviously positioned to counter the narrative that AI is mostly used for facial recognition and ad targeting.

View More Google AI listens to 15 years of sea-bottom recordings for hidden whale songs
Animals Marine Science Noaa Science Whales

Mysterious U.S. whale die-off is now deep in its 2nd year. We still don’t know the cause.

sudshr47 October 17, 2018

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Using a tractor, state and town officials in coastal New Hampshire attempted to drop the carcass of a minke whale into a dumpster in mid-September. But the dead cetacean proved too big, bouncing off the red bin and flopping onto the pavement of a beachside parking lot.

The minke whale — which can weigh up to 20,000 pounds — is one of 55 that have turned up dead on East Coast shores of the United States since January 2017. 

The strange die-offs have officially been labeled as an “Unusual Mortality Event” (UME) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The cause of whale deaths in this vastly-understudied species largely remain an inconsistent puzzle.  Read more…

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View More Mysterious U.S. whale die-off is now deep in its 2nd year. We still don’t know the cause.
Animals Marine Science Noaa Science Whales

Mysterious U.S. whale die-off is now deep in its 2nd year. We still don’t know the cause.

sudshr47 October 17, 2018

TwitterFacebook

Using a tractor, state and town officials in coastal New Hampshire attempted to drop the carcass of a minke whale into a dumpster in mid-September. But the dead cetacean proved too big, bouncing off the red bin and flopping onto the pavement of a beachside parking lot.

The minke whale — which can weigh up to 20,000 pounds — is one of 55 that have turned up dead on East Coast shores of the United States since January 2017. 

The strange die-offs have officially been labeled as an “Unusual Mortality Event” (UME) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The cause of whale deaths in this vastly-understudied species largely remain an inconsistent puzzle.  Read more…

More about Science, Animals, Noaa, Marine Science, and Whales

View More Mysterious U.S. whale die-off is now deep in its 2nd year. We still don’t know the cause.
Animals Orca Science Whales

Orca mother ends ‘tour of grief’ for her newborn after 17 days and 1,000 miles

sudshr47 August 13, 2018

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For 17 days, a southern resident killer whale (SRKW) named J35, but better known as Tahlequah, carried her deceased baby for more than 1,000 miles.

The orca’s unusually long spell of grieving came to an end on Saturday, when Tahlequah was spotted in the Haro Strait off Victoria, British Columbia, chasing a school of salmon without her newborn.

“Her tour of grief is now over and her behavior is remarkably frisky,” the Center for Whale Research (CWR) explained in a blog post online.

August 11, 2018
J35 update: “The ordeal of J35 carrying her dead calf for at least seventeen days and 1,000 miles is now over, thank goodness.”
– Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Researchhttps://t.co/kQpA4WWbmg pic.twitter.com/cQIN13HgN6

— Whale Research (@CWROrcas) August 12, 2018 Read more…

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Animals Dolphins Science Whales

New dolphin-whale hybrid sea creature is the spawn of an unholy union

sudshr47 July 28, 2018

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While surveying whales and dolphins off the Hawaiian Islands, scientists spotted a creature they’ve never seen before: a peculiar hybrid between a dolphin and a small whale. 

In 2017, before future naval officers trained on submarines in the waters around Kauai — a place called the Pacific Missile Range Facility — the U.S. Navy hired marine researchers from the Cascadia Research Collective to study the native animals in these seas. After encountering a large pod of melon-headed whales, the researchers tagged two of them, to see where they might go. 

It was then that the researchers noticed something curious about one of the creatures. It wasn’t quite a melon-headed whale. Nor was it exactly a rough-toothed dolphin, which are common to the area.  Read more…

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Conservation Endangered Species Iceland Science Whales

Iceland gets away with killing dozens of huge, endangered whales. Here’s why.

sudshr47 July 17, 2018

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Icelandic whalers have spent much of July ripping back the skin of 65-foot long endangered fin whales in preparation to butcher their meat. 

Earlier this month, the commercial whaling company, Hvalur hf, may have also captured and skinned an endangered blue whale — the largest creature ever known to live on Earth — according to photographs from the ocean conservation and vigilante group Sea Shepherd.

Most every nation has prohibited killing whales, creatures whose populations were decimated by ruthless whaling practices in the 1800sInternational treaties also prohibit the antiquated practice, yet a few nations — Iceland, Japan, and Norway — have found legal rationals for hunting whales. Read more…

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View More Iceland gets away with killing dozens of huge, endangered whales. Here’s why.
Arctic Climate Mystery Science Whales

Long-lived bowhead whales found singing over 180 different songs

sudshr47 April 4, 2018

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Bowhead whales are mysterious, Arctic-dwelling creatures. Scientists believe they can live for over two centuries, and even so, they largely avoid getting cancer. In the 1990s, an old stone spearhead — a weapon that hadn’t been used since the 1800’s — was found embedded in a bowhead whale’s blubber. That whale had apparently survived a hunter’s attack, over a century earlier. 

Now, marine researchers say they’ve recorded bowheads singing an unprecedented number of songs. The marine mammals seem to be altering their songs each year, similar to how a jazz musician is constantly improvising.

“If humpback whale song is like classical music, bowheads are jazz,” Kate Stafford, an oceanographer at the University of Washington, said in a press release.  Read more…

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Animals Australia Science Stranding Whales

More than 150 whales strand themselves on Western Australian beach

sudshr47 March 23, 2018

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Only 15 short-finned pilot whales are alive after a mass stranding event which saw more than 150 of them stranded on the West Australian coast.

Volunteers, veterinarian staff and wildlife officers made their way to Hamelin Bay early on Friday morning, working to ensure their survival. 

But by 12 p.m., many of the whales had already died, with winds and a swell from a tropical cyclone proving a challenge for workers hoping to move the surviving animals back to water.

Heartbreaking scenes as more than 150 whales beached themselves in WA’s south-west. The massive rescue effort continues to save those still alive. LATEST | https://t.co/ZbdFd8jLBL #ABCNews #ABCPerth #HamelinBay #Augusta pic.twitter.com/0jzebr90W8

— ABC Perth (@abcperth) March 23, 2018 Read more…

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