RIP Dolphins

Yet more evidence that our climate is fucked up: 26 dolphins apparently committed suicide in the UK. This sort of reminds me of the book So Long And Thanks For All The Fish, in which Douglas Adams explains the great dolphin disappearance.

Monday Sea Turtle Blogging

Chronicle's blog has a link to the Great Sea Turtle race, a two week tracking of leatherback sea turtles as they migrate from two starting locations, the pacific southwest and California, to the final destination of the international dateline. They all have adorable illustrations and histories. I signed up to be watching Jingjing, the turtle sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The whole thing is designed to bring attention to global warming and how it affects sea turtles (the following information is adapted from the Great Turtle Race website.

1. As sea levels rise, nesting beaches disappear.
2. There will be no more male sea turtles. Since sea turtle gender is determined by temperature and not genetics, sea turtles born in warm weather are females. Now, most of the sea turtles hatched at Playa Grande in Costa Rica are female, meaning eventually sea turtles will become extinct.
3. As coral dies, sea turtles lose their means of gathering food. Food supplies diminish, and the turtles starve.
   

Monday Whale Blogging

Photo courtesy of Matthew Winterburn, used under a Creative Commons license.

Because I was out of town for most of last week it took me a while to catch up on my reading. Via this article in the NYTimes, it seems that environmentalists and animal rights activists are going after ship speeds to reduce the death rate among whales:

Ships are one of the two leading causes of unnatural death among right whales, and scientists have warned that the unnatural death of even one breeding female has the potential to tip the species toward extinction. From 2002 to 2006, there were 17 confirmed deaths by ship strike, at least six involving adult females.

In an effort to stop the fatalities, the National Marine Fisheries Service has tried to impose speed limits on ships within 30 miles of port. But the White House has delayed approval of the rule, which is opposed by some shipping companies.

The White House Office of Management and Budget is supposed to review federal agencies’ rule proposals within 90 days, with an optional 30-day extension. In the case of the right whale ship strike rule, it has been more than a year.

It seems that a simple thing like reducing boat speed limits in areas where whales are known to travel could drastically reduce death among these animals.

DevilManFish

Apparently I love to read and write about sea creatures. Via Brad I hear about what's known as a black devilfish (a.k.a. a humpback anglerfish), what's got to be the most extreme gender reversal I've heard of yet in nature.

The male devilfish bites a larger, more attractive mate and never lets go. He stays to become a symbiotic being with the female, depending on her for food and oxygen. Talk about taking on the role of breadwinner.