whales tagged posts

Great rivers of whale pee make a remarkable contribution to Earth’s cycling of nutrients, a new study reveals. While their giant poop tsunamis pump nutrients vertically, from the surface to the ocean’s depth, researchers have just calculated the astounding scales of their horizontal nutrient transport as well. Baleen whales undertake some of the longest yearly migrations, with humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) travelling up to 8,300 km (about 5,150 miles) from Antarctica to warmer wintering grounds. With them, the whales shuttle resources from nutrient-rich polar regions to the less resourced warmer regions of the oceans.

Amazingly enough, a huge amount of this nutrient distribution comes from whale urine, which disperses nitrogen and other elements through the ocean when nature ine...

According to a study published in PLOS ONE, 72% of cetacean and pinniped stocks managed under U.S. jurisdiction are highly or very highly vulnerable to climate change. The research was led by Matthew D. Lettrich at NOAA Fisheries, in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

Climate change could affect the distribution, behavior, and movements of marine mammals via warming ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, decreasing dissolved oxygen, declining sea ice coverage, ocean acidification, and salinity changes. Climate vulnerability assessments (CVAs) provide a framework for evaluating climate impacts over a broad range of species.

Prior to the study, no known CVAs specifically assessed U.S.-managed marine mammals...

A Japanese whaling company has sparked an angry response from animal rights campaigners after it started selling whale meat from vending machines in an effort to boost consumption. Kyodo Senpaku, whose vessels led Japan’s whaling fleet during its controversial expeditions to the Southern Ocean, opened its first kujira(whale meat) “stores” at two locations in Tokyo this month after a successful trial late last year.

The machines sell a variety of whale meat products, including canned items containing meat imported from Iceland, bacon, steaks and red meat that can be eaten raw as sashimi. Prices range from 1,000 (£6) to 3,000 yen.

Although whale meat was a staple source of protein in Japan during postwar food shortages, consumption declined after the 196os as pork, chicken and...

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was founded to regulate whaling. Today, it increasingly focuses on the value of live whales for planetary health. A new workshop report confirms the great ecological value of whales to help mitigate climate change, transport nutrients, enhance marine productivity, and promote biodiversity in marine ecosystems.

The world’s leading experts gathered for a three-day workshop in April that was co-hosted by the IWC and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). The meeting came in response to a 2016 IWC resolution, introduced by the government of Chile, to compile scientific information about the ecological roles of cetaceans (whales and dolphins). 

The workshop discussions focused on a number of primary ecos...

A gray whale has swum the longest distance ever recorded in a marine vertebrate—more than 16,700 miles—over halfway around the world. The male cetacean, spotted off Namibia in 2013, is the first gray whale ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. But it took several years of genetic research to confirm the whale originated in the North Pacific, according to a study published today in the journal Biology Letters.

There are two known populations of gray whales: eastern gray whales, whose numbers are stable, with around 20,500 individuals, and western gray whales, which are endangered, with an estimated 200 individualsleft in the wild, mostly due to decades of commercial whaling...

Cancer should be a near certainty for whales, the longest-living and largest mammals there are — but scientists are finding that cetaceans are excellent at protecting themselves against the deadly disease. Just how do they do that? It could all come down to good genes, according to a new study published by The Royal Society.

“The odds of developing cancer increase with longevity and body mass,” explained lead study author Daniela Tejada-Martinez, a postdoctoral researcher at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Having more cells means having a higher probability that some of them may develop dangerous mutations as they grow and divide over the course of their life cycle.

“Paradoxically, big and/or long-lived species have lower cancer risk...

Seeing a whale stranded on a beach often provokes a strong reaction. It can make people curious – beached whales can do strange things, like explode. It can also be upsetting to witness a creature so magnificent in water reduced to lifeless blubber on land. What rarely registers, however, is the lost opportunity for carbon sequestration.

Whales, particularly baleen and sperm whales, are among the largest creatures on Earth. Their bodies are enormous stores of carbon, and their presence in the ocean shapes the ecosystems around them. 

From the depths of the ocean, these creatures are also helping to determine the temperature of the planet – and it’s something that we’ve only recently started to appreciate.

“On land, humans directly influence the carbon stored in terrestrial ec...

A groundbreaking new online tool called Whale Safe has been created by marine scientists and top whale researchers from across the country, including Texas A&M University at Galveston’s Dr. Ana Širović. The tool allows users to detect the endangered animals in order to mitigate vessel strikes and increase conservation efforts of the endangered marine species.

Displaying near real-time data to help prevent ships and whales from colliding, Whale Safe is an analysis and mapping tool designed to lessen the chance of a strike or collision...

Whales, as we all know, are different from most other sea creatures. They are mammals, and give birth to live babies… and then they nurture and raise those babies, nursing them on rich, fatty milk so they can grow big and strong. But we can’t just put whales in an aquarium and watch them raise their families. They are large beasts with complex societies, and their migration can take them around the world.

While the ocean isn’t exactly hospitable to humans, though, we can send our technology. Through the use of whale-mounted cameras, scientists from the University of Hawaiʻi, Stanford University, and UC Santa Cruz were able to capture breathtaking video of humpback whales nursing their calves as they wintered in their breeding grounds in Maui.

Every year, around 10,000 humpback whales r...

Sometimes it feels like we know all there is to know about the natural world. But when you talk to researchers in biology, ecology, geology or other science subjects, they’ll tell you what we know only scratches the surface. There’s so much more to discover. In the animal world, whale migration is a great example.

Thus far, marine biologists have never been sure why whales migrate. They hypothesized that it had something to do with where they prefer to give birth (many whales calve in warmer waters), or maybe was connected with food supplies. But whales are large enough animals that the cold waters where they tend to live should be fine for giving birth, and during migration, whales eat a lot less because they’re busy moving and not finding hunting grounds.

But there’s a new theory: Maybe ...