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Massive Whale and Dolphin Strandings in Australia

By Niki Fears on 3/16/09 3:06pm
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Nearly 200 pilot whales and have a dozen bottle nose dolphins were recently stranded on the beach of southern Australia last Sunday evening. Unfortunately only 54 of the pilot whales and 7 of the stranded dolphins were still alive when rescue workers began working furiously on Monday to return as many of them to the water as possible.

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New Weapon Used by Whalers?

By sparklyscotty on 2/27/09 10:55pm
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In 1986 an international moratorium was placed on commercial whaling, ordering whalers to cease and desist hunting of whales. Unfortunately, Japan has never felt that the moratorium applied to their commercial whalers.


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Exxon's War on the Last of the Remaining Western Gray Whales

By Niki Fears on 2/18/09 1:18am
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The Piltun Lagoon, in Russian Waters, is an oasis of biodiversity providing food and habitat for a variety of marine life including sea stars, clams, sea cucumbers, oysters, and sea anemones.  This vital lagoon is also a crucial feeding grounds for the few remaining Western Gray Whales in the world and if the oil and gas giant, Exxon, has its way they will move forward with a plan to build a pipeline right through the middle of this fragile habitat, which could effectively put an end to the critically endangered Western Gray Whales.

When news of the Sakhalin-1 project, a plan to run a pipelin

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BBC Arctic Unicorn Footage

By macallister on 2/14/09 11:18pm
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Arctic Unicorn Footage

BBC News has posted some really amazing (and rare) footage of the summer narwhal (monodon monoceros) migration, primarily filmed from a helicopter.

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Gray Whale Migration

By macallister on 2/1/09 4:19am
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Before I moved to Washington state, my first trip to the Puget Sound was a birthday present to myself, to catch the spring Gray whale migration. Some friends and I drove out to the Olympic Peninsula, rented a cabin at LaPush, and waited in the rain with our binoculars for most of the week. We didn't see any whales, but I caught a bad cold.

Photo from the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Program

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More Bad News for Puget Sound Orcas?

By macallister on 1/6/09 8:22am
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It's no secret that the killer whale population in Puget Sound has been declining steadily over the last decade.

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Beaked Whales: First Marine Mammal to Use Secondary Sexual Selection in Mating

By hellenwyeth on 12/15/08 9:43am
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The rarely seen beaked whales have scientists talking. Mostly found only as carcasses washed ashore leading to their discovery in the first place, researchers have been doing some testing pertaining to their teeth and the connection with breeding. Scientists presume that their teeth have evolved as secondary traits to help females select males of the right species. These whales are identical and the only difference in gender is teeth or tusks.


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Mass Krill Harvesting Could Lead to Starvation

By hellenwyeth on 12/12/08 5:36am
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With the popular uprising of herbal supplements and treatments environmentalists are starting to show concern for mass krill harvesting. They worry that fishing krill in this manner in small areas may starve land based animals that can not travel far as well as the possibility of a food shortage for whales. Animals that depend on krill for nutrition in addition to our large whale friends are fish, seals and penguins. Taking away their source of food not only could lead to starvation but extinction in these small areas that are being harvested.


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Orca's Lunch Gets Away

By beatriz on 12/10/08 7:17am
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This is one persistent orca, and one clever penguin.

150 Whales Die In Mass Stranding

By diosmio on 12/1/08 7:54am
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Sad news today, 150 pilot whales died after being stranded off Tasmania's west coast.  The numbers nearly doubled from what it was believed to be yesterday.

The whales were discovered Saturday, on a rocky area of coastline of Sandy Cape.  Members of the local community and about six Department of Primary Industry and Water members worked in vain to try to save the stranded animals, that had been badly injured by the rocks.

Warwick Brennan, a department spokesman said that the whales' chances of survival were much less in that sort of environment than if the had come ashore in a sandy area.

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