Whales and other cetaceans

Kate Sprogis , Murdoch University and David Hocking , Monash University For wild predators, catching, killing and eating prey can sometimes be a risky business . We can see this on the African savannah, where a well-aimed kick from a zebra can spell trouble for a hungry lion. But the same can also be true in the ocean, where some prey types are far from helpless seafood. In particular, a large octopus can be a risky prey for predators to tackle. This is especially so for marine mammals, such as dolphins, which don’t have hands to help them keep control of this clingy, eight-armed prey. Our new research highlights the development of complex behaviours that allow dolphins to eat octopus, thereby improving their ability to survive and reproduce. It’s another example of a strategy that helps to drive the success of dolphins in coastal environments around Australia. Dangers of eating octopus In 2015 an adult male bottlenose dolphin was found dead on a beach in Bunbury, southw...

Experts: Fewer Than 30 Vaquita Porpoises Remain - Bloomberg : " International experts studying Mexico's endangered vaquita porpoise have determined that fewer than 30 remain in the upper Gulf of California, the only place they live. The experts and the Mexican government have drawn up plans to catch the few remaining vaquitas and enclose them in pens for protection and possible breeding. The World Wildlife Fund says that is not the answer. The fund said Monday that "the only way to save the vaquita from extinction is for the Mexican government to immediately and indefinitely ban all fisheries within its habitat."" 'via Blog this'

Dozens Of False Killer Whales Mysteriously Strand Themselves In Florida : The Two-Way : NPR : "Scientists are trying to determine why a group of at least 95 false killer whales stranded themselves on a remote coast in Florida's Everglades National Park. At least 82 of the animals have died, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "This is the largest mass stranding ever for this species in the United States," NOAA Marine Biologist Erin Fougères said, "And one of the largest mass strandings we've ever had in the southeast." The event was first reported on Saturday and rescue efforts to herd the animals to safety have seen "minimal success," she said in a Facebook Live video with the Weather Channel on Wednesday. The remote location, along Hog Key in the Everglades, is difficult for biologists to reach and dense with mangroves." 'via Blog this'

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Navy Sonar-Use Rules - ABC News : "A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar that could harm whales and other marine life.  The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision upholding approval granted in 2012 for the Navy to use low-frequency sonar for training, testing and routine operations.  The five-year approval covered peacetime operations in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.  The appellate panel sent the matter back to the lower court for further proceedings.  A message seeking comment from representatives of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Honolulu was not immediately returned.  Sonar, used to detect submarines, can injure whales, seals, dolphins and walruses and disrupt their feeding and mating. " 'via Blog this'

Southern right whale study quantifies impact of whaling in New Zealand's waters - Science News - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : The population of southern right whales in the waters off New Zealand today is just 12 per cent of its size before whaling began, according to a new study. The research, published today in Royal Society Open Science , highlights the slow path to recovery from whaling in this area, said the study's lead author, Jennifer Jackson from the British Antarctic Survey. "It's really easy for us to forget how different our oceans looked before we went in and exploited them," Dr Jackson said. "There are anecdotes that people in Wellington would complain about the noises that the southern right whales were making in the harbour at night." In the 19th and 20th centuries, southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) were massacred by whalers in their coastal calving grounds around the New Zealand mainland and while foraging i...

Skull of sperm whale from 2014 Yorke Peninsula mass stranding stripped and studied - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : "The beaching of a pod of sperm whales in 2014 has given Adelaide-based researchers a rare opportunity to study the ocean mammals. Scientists at the South Australian Museum have removed one of the whale's skulls from a macerating vat, where it has spent the past 12 months. After drying and cleaning, the skull will join the rest of the skeleton, which the museum hopes to put on public display. The whale was one of seven that beached themselves on Yorke Peninsula in 2014, but museum staff say their research will not be able to explain why the pod became stranded. David Stemmer, the collection manager of mammals at the South Australian Museum, oversaw the skull retrieval. "It's a fairly big skull, it weighs probably around half a tonne," Mr Stemmer said. "It needs heavy equipment to get out of the tank, so we've asked our n...

Kimberley dolphins vulnerable to human activity, Murdoch University researchers say - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : "Dolphins in Western Australia's Kimberley are heavily reliant on their specific habitats and "quite vulnerable" to human activity, researchers have said.  Key points: Study provides estimates of three inshore dolphin species  Data is collected in the Kimberley  Researches find high degree of population variance between sites  Dolphins vulnerable to coastal development  The researchers published the findings of a four-year study which provides the first estimates of the abundance of three shallow, inshore species of dolphin — the Australian snubfin, the Australian humpback and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin.  The Murdoch University team travelled to five remote locations in the Kimberley to collect data, counting dolphins and mapping the sightings. They focused mostly on the West Kimberley, visiting Roebuck ...