wildlife

*UPDATE 03/16/2012* "Whaling fleet kill quota: 1,035; Actual whales killed 266 Minkes, 1 Fin (Endangered); 768 Whales SAVED Swimming Free in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary...*

Shonan Maru 2's new version: "Government of Japan". Q: does it represent Japanese government? Or has Japanese government relocated onboard to exercise its power? Life in peril: $29mil Tsunami-fund armed coastguards vs 23 nations' volunteers




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*Update Dec. 31, 2011* Indeed odd: 7 Japanese ships seem not interested in whales but - "Japanese government security ship Shonan Maru #2 continues to tail the Steve Irwin and the Brigitte Bardot" on their way back to port for repairs. Now the Bob Barker is alone at the mercy of the other 6 Japanese ships with armed coast guards continuously moving eastward (to where?), far from any rescue/backup as the Bob Barker, on January 6'2010, rescued Ady Gil's 6 crew who were nearly killed when the Ady Gil was suddenly sliced in two by a whaling ship.

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"Despite the suspension of the program this year, we of MAFF are determined to continue the program until it leads to the resumption of commercial whaling," senior vice minister Nobutaka Tsutsui said.

Takanarita, a widely experienced journalist, blogged his disappointment. Pro-whaling politicians had taken control, he said. It had become an expression of male pride: ''We can't give in to the likes of Sea Shepherd.''  read more »

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Tsunami Relief: Help People Not Whalers

To Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda:

We stand with the Japanese people in the ongoing disaster recovery and condemn the use of relief funds to promote the Japanese whaling industry. We demand the Japanese government immediately end all whaling subsidies and instead prioritize the immediate relocation and assistance of families still suffering in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster and tsunami.

Right now, the Japanese whaling fleet is barreling south to hunt thousands of majestic whales, escorted by a 30 million dollar security force paid for out of the tsunami disaster relief fund!

Anti-whaling champions were successfully blocking the Japanese whale hunt -- which is exactly why the Japanese government decided to swipe money from relief efforts to stop the ocean guardians from bothering the boats while they engage in their brutal slaughter.  read more »

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This Google Earth Tour, narrated by Dan Laffoley, Marine Vice Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s World Commission on Protected Areas, follows the migrations of whales above and below the surface and visits some of the key marine protected areas and sanctuaries for whales around the world. Join the blue whale in the US national marine sanctuaries off California and journey to the proposed Costa Rica Dome Marine Protected Area in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, one of the key areas being proposed as part of the "Homes for Whales" project of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Follow the humpbacks on migration, from their breeding grounds to the feeding areas in the North Atlantic around the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and visit one of the most recent protected areas, the Agoa Sanctuary in the French Caribbean. This animated Google Earth Tour was first presented as part of a keynote lecture by Dan Laffoley (IUCN) at the opening of the 2nd International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (ICMMPA) on 7 November 2011 in the Atrium, Fort-de-France, Martinique. It was prepared with the help of Jenifer Austin Foulkes (Google), Charlotte Vick (Sylvia Earle Alliance/Mission Blue) and Erich Hoyt (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society/IUCN).

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*Update 12 March 2013*
Christopher Swann, a cetacean novice, 'whale whisperer' - dances with whales 'Minkes are the smallest of the great whales but they still grow to a length of 30ft and weigh 7 tons... Orcas, or killer whales, are 8-ton sea monsters with dorsal fins like dinghy sails - lords of the sea at the top of the food chain, gladiatorial figures in black shining armour, cleaving the waves with dorsal fins as symbolic as the scythe of the Grim Reaper.’ Swann once followed a group of killers for 14 hours. Food and drink were irrelevant. The sun scorched his eyes and he felt himself drawn irresistibly into their world. 'As would happen many times there-after,’ he says, 'I simply became a whale.’
*Update 22 October 2012*
Listen: Beluga whale 'makes human-like sounds Researchers in the US have been shocked to discover a beluga whale whose vocalisations were remarkably close to human speech. While dolphins have been taught to mimic the pattern and durations of sounds in human speech, no animal has spontaneously tried such mimicry. "Our observations suggest that the whale had to modify its vocal mechanics in order to make the speech-like sounds," said Sam Ridgway, president of the National Marine Mammal Foundation and lead author on the paper. "The sounds we heard were clearly an example of vocal learning by the white whale."
*Update March 09, 2012* - 30 Dolphins stranded in Brazil and incredibly saved! Extremely rare event!


Robin Williams with dolphins in the wild  read more »

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Do not bring whale meat home from Iceland, British tourists told - Whale meat on sale at Keflavik airport prompts the Foreign Office to issue a warning to Britons at risk of breaching international law
Up to 70,000 Britons who visit Iceland each year have been given a stiff warning by the Foreign Office not to bring home any whale meat, saying to do so is in breach of international law protecting endangered species.

Penalties of imprisonment or fines up to £5,000 could be meted out by the courts, says the Foreign Office, because importation into Britain and other EU countries is illegal under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (Cites).  read more »

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Cliffhanger! Lion cub saved by mum in dramatic scenes caught on camera as he cries out pitifully for help

Clinging on for dear life to the side of a vertical cliff, the tiny lion cub cries out pitifully for help.

His mother arrives at the edge of the precipice with three other lionesses and a male. The females start to clamber down together but turn back daunted by the sheer drop.

Eventually one single factor determines which of them will risk her life to save the youngster - motherly love.

Slowly, agonisingly, the big cat edges her way down towards her terrified son, using her powerful claws to grip the crumbling cliff side.

One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine.  read more »