Where I used to live, I once "visited" with a humpback whale who stuck around a beach for a few days for some good eats. It was such a memorable experience...
https://www.sci.news/https://www.sci.news/biology/whale-seti-12528.html
The Whale-SETI team, which includes researchers from the SETI Institute, University of California Davis and the Alaska Whale Foundation, has been studying humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) communication systems in an effort to develop intelligence filters for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Des baleines grises demandent de l’aide aux humains pour retirer leurs parasites
Au Mexique, en Basse-Californie, le capitaine d’un petit bateau touristique, Paco Jimenez Franco, a documenté le comportement de baleines grises. La vidéo montre que le cétacé demande l’aide du capitaine pour retirer les poux de baleine de sa tête, la représentation d’une potentielle relation harmonieuse entre l’homme et l’animal.
la vidéo a été tournée dans le lagon d’Ojo de Liebre, près de la côte de Basse-Californie. Paco Jimenez Franco a été capitaine d’excursions d’observation de baleines pendant les 20 dernières années dans ce lagon. Le capitaine a retiré l’un des poux de la tête de la baleine la première fois qu’elle s’est assez rapprochée de lui pour qu’il puisse le faire. Elle s’est ensuite approchée à nouveau, afin qu’il continue.
Depuis ce moment, la même baleine a pris l’habitude de rendre visite au capitaine. Paco Jimenez Franco a développé : « Je l’ai fait à maintes reprises avec la même baleine, et avec d’autres. C’est fascinant. » #baleines #whales https://youtu.be/dl6rEWdAhB0?feature=shared
‘These are ancient waters, not yours to destroy.
Respect the ancient past
Honour the present, and
Protect the future.’
Fossil fuel and nuclear projects risk fracturing Australian First Nations communities’ connection with their Country, while destroying nature and damaging the climate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9S9TRsjDd4&t=4s
Spent the last week in #Madeira in an attempt to convince my brain not to completely hibernate this winter. It was an experiment as we've never done anything like a package or winter sun holiday before, and we mistimed it somewhat: the week before had been full sun every day, whereas we got clouds most days, and some HEAVY rain.
Still though, we got out and about everyday, so hopefully my eyes soaked up some rays.
On our last day, we went on a boat trip to see the island from a different view point. We didn't expect to see any of the dolphins or #whales that were the supposed point of the trip but we did. We saw bottlenosed dolphins swimming amongst a pod of pilot whales - then the sailors all got very excited: they'd spotted a humpbacked whale. They're apparently quite rare in Madeira and even rarer to have one swim right next to/under the boat, then breach less than 20m away 🤩
An old university friend co-authored this paper by Williams et al. on persistent organic pollutants found on #whales#Dolphins#Seals around the UK.
I remember talking with him about it a few years ago - great to see it out but goodness how depressing, really good science in a wel-surveyed population, makes me wonder about the #Cetaceans we don't know about?
"Maintaining healthy populations of just nine key wild species (or groups of species) – including elephants and wolves, but also wildebeest, musk ox and bison, as well as marine fish, whales, sharks and sea otters – can play a vital role in controlling the carbon cycle on land and sea."
The tiny island nation of Dominica has announced that it will create a 788-square-kilometer (304-square-mile) reserve to protect endangered sperm whales.
Most of the sperm whales that live off the coast of Dominica are part of the Eastern Caribbean Clan, which currently has a population of fewer than 300 individuals.
Dominica creates world’s first marine protected area for sperm whales
The tiny Caribbean island of Dominica is creating the world’s first marine protected area for one of Earth’s largest animals: the endangered sperm whale.
Greenpeace offices and activists worldwide have worked to protect whales and the oceans they call home for decades. We’re also massive fans of renewables, which we need to build a tonne of to phase out gas and coal and tackle the climate emergency.
So when we started seeing posts online claiming offshore wind farms were killing whales, we decided to investigate.
The short answer: no, offshore wind farms aren’t killing whales.
The longer answer is a little bit more complicated – but building offshore wind is way, way better for ocean wildlife than fossil fuels, especially offshore gas and oil.