Whales and other cetaceans

122 Pregnant Whales Were Killed in Japan’s Latest Hunt. Was This Illegal? - The New York Times : "More than 120 pregnant female whales were among 333 killed during Japan’s recent annual summer hunt off the coast of Antarctica, according to a new report. The report, released by the International Whaling Commission this month, said 122 of the slaughtered minke whales were pregnant and 114 were considered immature. The last hunting season in the Antarctic for Japan ran from Dec. 8 to Feb. 28. Conservationists said the new report was further evidence that Japan was killing whales for commercial purposes under the guise of scientific research." 'via Blog this'

Faroe Islands: "Grindadrap" Kills Hundres Of Dolphins | HolidogTimes : "At the Faroe Islands, in Denmark, the annual hunting season is just about to begin. For this occasion, the residents of the archipelago take part in a barbaric practice known as the “grindadrap’, in other words, the slaughtering of  dolphins in the coastal area. The charity Sea Shepherd hopes to put an end to this ancestral traditions once and for all." 'via Blog this'

Dolphin 'happiness' measured by scientists in France - BBC News : "Scientists working with dolphins at a marine park near Paris have attempted to measure how the animals feel about aspects of their lives in captivity. In what researchers say is the first project to examine captivity "from the animals' perspective", the team assessed what activities dolphins looked forward to most. They found that the marine mammals most keenly anticipated interacting with a familiar human. The results, they say, show that "better human-animal bonds equals better welfare". The study, published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, was part of a three-year project to measure dolphin welfare in a captive setting." 'via Blog this'

Three more Sperm Whale wash up on #NewZealand beaches. This brings the total to 11. This now the 2nd largest #whale death in New Zealand history. The whales are all male and appear emaciated. pic.twitter.com/3RrYQjgC6p — Daniel Schneider (@BiologistDan) May 27, 2018

Lolita the orca was captured near Puget Sound in 1970 and transported to Miami's Seaquarium where she has been an exhibit ever since. Earlier this year members of the Lummi tribe believe that Lolita, who is also known as Tokitae, sent them "a message" asking them to bring her home. For the three months, six craftsmen of the Native American Lummi tribe sculpted a 175-year-old western red cedar tree into the likeness of the orca. This week they arrived at the Sequarium with their 16 foot totem pole. The Miami New Times   reports Kurt Russo, a friend of the tribe who helped transport the totem pole across the country from Washington state, explaining that “The blackfish in Lummi [are called] qwe lhol mechen, meaning ‘the people that live under the water'. In Lummi cosmology, they were and are people and family.” Russo, like many of his Lummi friends, believes the totem pole's arrival in Miami will help advocate for the orca's return to Washington. In 1970, ...

The whales are back! 🐋 This beauty was spotted by @sydneywhales yesterday, and marks the start of their annual migration https://t.co/dP6iLHQ32t pic.twitter.com/AEXRxdC2gJ — Australia (@Australia) May 24, 2018

There's a fascinating insight   in the current  Hakai Magazine  into how humpback whales - both in groups and solo - use sound to round up herrings for dinner. "When a group of humpbacks finds a school of herring, typically one whale dives and slowly circles the fish, releasing bubbles from its blowhole to form an ephemeral bubble net that corrals the fish. At the same time, another whale trumpets the feeding call. Trapped by the bubble net, the increasingly frenetic fish ball up. Once the feeding call stops, the whales swim up through the trapped herring, devouring them as they power to the surface." The article " The whale that dines along" gives examples of solitary whales using the same song sounds

Why Iceland is set to resume whaling despite international opposition Julia Jabour , University of Tasmania and Rachael Lorna Johnstone , University of Akureyri After a two-year pause in the fin whale ( Balaenoptera physalus ) hunt, Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf. will resume whaling this summer , with a government-issued quota. Two factors help explain why Iceland and other countries are determined to hunt whales in defiance of international disapproval. The first is demand for the product; the second is Iceland’s interpretation of international law on whaling. Whale meat and its buyers Demand for whale meat appears to be stable in Iceland. Many reports suggest that Icelanders no longer eat whale meat in great numbers. Yet minke whale ( Balaenoptera acutorostrata ) meat is readily available in supermarkets and sells for the equivalent of A$29.80 per kilogram. Much of this is imported from Norway, indicating that there remains a strong domestic demand that is not being...

Ancient ancestors of modern baleen whales were toothy not-so-gentle giants A life-like reconstruction of Llanocetus denticrenatus , the second oldest “baleen” whale ever found. Carl Buell , CC BY-SA Felix Georg Marx , Monash University and Robert Ewan Fordyce The largest living whales – including the gigantic 30-metre blue whale – are fast predatory hunters that support their massive bodies by filtering large volumes of tiny prey from cool near-polar waters. They do this using baleen: plates of a tough substance hanging from their upper jaw. Evidence of early evolution of baleen whales remains both sparse and controversial, with several ideas competing to explain the origin of baleen-based bulk feeding . New evidence published today , based on our detailed analysis of a large, 34 million year old Antarctic fossil whale, Llanocetus denticrenatus (“yano-seetus” denticrenatus), shows that this whale was all gums and teeth, but had no bale...

Such majestic creatures! 🐬💦 Credit: Storyful pic.twitter.com/9sGNtoIQtK — NTD Inspired (@NTDInspired) February 21, 2018

Photo taken on Jan. 22, 2018 shows a finless porpoise swimming in the Poyang lake in east China's Jiangxi Province.  The Xinhua news agency reports that an auxiliary patrol brigade, among which many are former fishermen, began its mission in June 2017 to protect finless porpoises around the Poyang lake zone in the Jiangxi Province.  Finless porpoises are a freshwater animal. Around 1,000 of them are believed to live in the Yangtze River and a few lakes linked to the busy waterway.

Researchers from New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research believe they have heard the voices of two previously unrecorded species of whales. A study in the The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America describes two distinct beaked whale echolocation signals recorded in the Cook Strait region using passive acoustic technology. "These signals differ from previously described Ziphiid species clicks. A description of the time-frequency characteristics of the two signals is provided. Understanding the characteristics of these signals is necessary to correctly identify species from their echolocation signals and enables future monitoring of beaked whales using passive acoustics techniques." The New Zealand Herald   reports there were about 22 species of beaked whales globally, of which about 13 had been found in New Zealand, but very little is known about them. Sightings are rare because they are deep-diving animals that can spend more ...

How to Save an Orca Whale. The governor has assembled a task force to address WA's killer whale crisis. But saving our shrinking orca population is no small task. https://t.co/Nhd04R2BNo — Dam Sense (@damsnse) May 1, 2018

An earlier than anticipated whale migration season has triggered the removal of all five nets on Australia's NSW North Coast and an early end to the second shark net trial. The second trial of shark nets has been underway for almost five months at Lighthouse Beach (Ballina), Sharpes Beach (Ballina), Shelly Beach (Ballina), Seven Mile Beach (Lennox Head) and Evans Head Beach. Minister for Primary Industries, Niall Blair said his department had been monitoring the whale migration along the east coast and decided to end the trial earlier following the increase in whale sightings. “The risk of a whale being caught in the nets is unfortunately too high and therefore it is important we remove the nets a month early,” Mr Blair said. “Our SMART drumlines will remain in the water over the winter months and they’ve proven to be very effective at catching target sharks. “However, the weather is still warm and I know plenty of people are still enjoying our beaches each day. I encourage a...

There's a baby boom among humpback whales around Antarctica. Researchers found a high pregnancy rate in recent years, signaling that their numbers are recovering. https://t.co/duVgsbIVfr — The New York Times (@nytimes) May 2, 2018