For the fifth time in three years, a group of orcas has sunk a ship in southwest Europe. This time an unknown number of killer whales attacked a 50-foot sailing yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar, ripped open its hull and sent the boat to the seafloor. Live Science has more, including what happened to the crew and why researchers believe the attacks are a learned behavior that could increase in the coming months. https://flip.it/0KoMeL #Science#KillerWhales#Orcas#Europe
Seit 2020 werden immer wieder Zwischenfälle mit Orcas an der Straße von Gibraltar gemeldet. Nun hat eine Gruppe von Tieren eine 15-Meter-Jacht versenkt, die Besatzung wurde gerettet. Experten gibt das Verhalten Rätsel auf.
I finally made the trek to meet Bruunidun. She’s a #ThomasDambo giant #troll making her home next to Puget Sound in Lincoln Park in West Seattle. Idun is playing a troll sized flute to call home native #Orcas.
Wow! 200,000 to 300,000 years ago #Orcas now living and hunting in and relatively near the #PacificNorthwest of the #US and southwest #Canada coast diverged into different #species, #DNA analysis now reveals.
Keeping #dolphins, #orcas and other cetaceans in #captivity is cruel. Depriving them of the vast open spaces and social bonds that they would normally have in the wild, and confining them to small, concrete #tanks to perform tricks for dead fish is highly unethical for these complex marine mammals. No matter how sophisticated the enclosure, no man made facility can ever hope to replicate the wild world of dolphins and whales.
"“There really are two things going on at once. We are mourning the loss of the mother and we are trying to help the young one to find her family,” the Ehattesaht council said in a statement. “It really is something that rings home for Native people: this loss and this struggle for the next generation.”"
Sperm whales off the southern coast of Western Australia devised a clever, if smelly and gross, strategy to protect themselves from what could have been a fatal attack by 30 killer whales. Scientists were there to witness it, and Live Science tells us more: https://flip.it/U2Oq1_ #Science#MarineLife#Whales#Orcas#Animals
Following a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission just voted to protect Southern Resident #orcas under the state's #EndangeredSpeciesAct. Now state agencies will have to develop concrete actions addressing the major threats to orcas there, including ocean #pollution.
According to a folktale from British Columbia's Haida People, there was once a pair of wolves that would swim out into the sea to hunt whales until one day when they were unable to find their way home through the fog. Lost at sea, they transformed into orcas. #FairyTaleTuesday
A pod of about a dozen orcas was trapped by drift ice off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. The orcas managed to free themselves as gaps between the ice grew
Japanese officials say a pod of killer whales that was trapped in drift ice off the northern main island of Hokkaido, prompting concern from environmental groups, has apparently safely escaped.
Among #orcas stranded in the UK, levels of #PCBs, a group of highly dangerous and persistent chemicals that do not degrade easily, were 30 times the concentration at which the animals would begin to suffer health impacts, researchers said.
Sailors Turn to Heavy Metal to Fend Off Rowdy Orcas
Other commentators on sailors’ discussion groups have reported that heavy metal is effective in driving away killer whales, so musical tastes may vary between groups of orcas.
A pod of killer whales trapped in drift ice off northern Japan has apparently safely escaped (www.newspressnow.com)
Japanese officials say a pod of killer whales that was trapped in drift ice off the northern main island of Hokkaido, prompting concern from environmental groups, has apparently safely escaped.