Tag Archives | OCEANS

Lily Cole On The Ugly Truth About Beauty

May 28, 2013

(ANIMAL ACTIVISM) British model Lily Cole plans to protest the use of shark liver oil at the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts in Wales this Thursday. Squalene—an oil extracted from the livers of endangered sharks—is being used more and more frequently in the cosmetic industry, particularly in the making of a high-end face cream. Cole will be joined by Alannah Weston, the creative director at Selfridges, who  is removing all products containing squalene from the store. Sharks are already under threat from the finning industry, so it’s important to quickly curb this “beauty” trend. Read on for more on this disturbing practice. — Global Animal

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Sea Shepherd’s ‘Relentless’ Campaign (VIDEO)

May 27, 2013

(ANIMAL ACTIVISM) Sea Shepherd introduced the world to their 10th Antarctic whale defense campaign, Operation Relentless, via YouTube this month. The new operation is coming off the back of Sea Shepherd’s most successful campaign to date, Operation Zero Tolerance, which saved the lives of 932 whales. The campaign name is influenced by Japan’s claim that their attempt to kill whales in the Antarctic was rejected due to ‘relentless interference’ by Sea Shepherd. Read on for more information regarding Sea Shepherd’s newest pursuit to bring peace to at-risk whales. — Global Animal

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Navy Dolphin Uncovers Seafloor Secrets

May 25, 2013

(OCEANS) One of the Navy’s specially trained Atlantic bottlenose dolphins recently came across an 130-year-old torpedo on the seafloor. Dolphins are naturally endowed with the most superior sonar known to man and thus, can detect mines and other objects acoustically difficult to find underwater. The museum-worthy torpedo is, in fact, one of the first self-propelled torpedoes used by the U.S. Navy, and only 50 of its kind were ever manufactured. Read on to learn more about the echolocation of dolphins and the antique torpedo. — Global Animal

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Why Penguins Can’t Fly

May 23, 2013

(ANIMAL SCIENCE) Millions of years ago, penguins lost their ability to fly, and now scientists finally know why. The tuxedoed birds are some of the best divers out there, but unfortunately good flippers don’t make for good flyers. Scientists say, once penguins sacrificed flight, their wings and body size most likely evolved quite rapidly since flying no longer placed constraints on body form. Researchers were confused as to why the aquatically-skilled animals chose sea over air, but they hold a promising theory regarding the species’ perplexing decision. Continue reading for the answer to this mind-boggling question, and learn more about prehistoric flying penguins. — Global Animal

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India: The Dolphin Showstopper

May 22, 2013

(CAPTIVE DOLPHINS) Hooray for cetaceans! Late last week, India banned the exploitation of dolphins for entertainment purposes and is now the largest of four countries, including Costa Rica, Hungary, and Chile, to prohibit the practice. In many parts of the world, dolphin shows are big business—which begs the question: what compelled India to make this decision? Due to the dolphin’s high level of intelligence, Indian regulators have deemed the cetaceans as “non-human persons” with specific rights and freedoms. Read on for more about this compassionate piece of legislation, which is a major step in the right direction. — Global Animal

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New Species Discovered In Antarctica

May 15, 2013

(ANIMAL SCIENCE) A new species of fish was discovered by Ukrainian mariners on a fishing trip near Antarctica in 2009. The new fish known as the hopbeard plunderfish, was discovered when the fishermen were attempting to catch Antarctic Toothfish. The discovery was recently publicized in a ZooKeys study this April and describes how the strange brownish splotched fish, whose shape vaguely resembles that of a tadpole, lives in depths of up to 4,560 feet. To learn more about the specifics of this new species, continue reading below. — Global Animal

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Can Fish Use Sign Language?

May 7, 2013

(ANIMAL SCIENCE) Two types of fish—grouper and coral trout—have been found to use sign language to help out their hunting buddies. A study published in the journal Nature Communications discovered that the fish are able to “point” their heads toward prey to alert their partners in crime where their next meal is hiding. After studying gesturing grouper in the wild, researchers found that when the prey fish escaped the hunting alliance, a grouper would sometimes move to where the victim was hiding and “signal” the others. Coral trout practice similar gestures, and as a matter of fact, this is the first time “sign language” has been found to occur in animals other than ravens and primates. Read on for more on these signing creatures and this enlightening study. — Global Animal

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Sea Turtles Get Caught In The Bycatch

April 28, 2013

(OCEANS) In a new study, Bryan Wallace and a team of researchers illustrate the relationship between sea turtle bycatch, (unwanted animals which are caught by fishing boats then discarded) and small-scale fisheries. Although there is little research backing bycatch and mortality rates in terms of endangered species like marine turtles, Wallace, in his research, learned that on average, the hardest places to be a sea turtle were in the East Pacific, Northwest, Southwest Atlantic, and Mediterranean. With such a vast number of sea turtles being killed in the bycatch of small-scale fisheries, it is critical for these small-scale fisheries to become a sustainable business. Read on to learn more about the informative study. — Global Animal

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