Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
How Far Will Dolphins Go to Relate to Humans?
Erik Olsen/The New York Times
The Wild Dolphin Project: For 25 years, Denise Herzing has returned to the same place in the Bahamas to study a group of wild dolphins. Next year, she will pioneer a project to communicate with them.
By ERIK OLSEN
Published: September 19, 2011
OFF THE BAHAMAS — In a remote patch of turquoise sea, Denise L. Herzing splashes into the water with a pod of 15 Atlantic spotted dolphins. For the next 45 minutes, she engages the curious creatures in a game of keep-away, using a piece of Sargassum seaweed like a dog’s chew toy.
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Get Science News From The New York Times »Dr. Herzing is no tourist cavorting with marine mammals. As the world’s leading authority on the species, she has been studying the dolphins for 25 years as part of the Wild Dolphin Project, the longest-running underwater study of its kind.
“I’m kind of an old-school naturalist,” she said. “I really believe in immersing yourself in the environment of the animal.”
Immerse herself she has. Based in Jupiter, Fla., she has tracked three generations of dolphins in this area. She knows every animal by name, along with individual personalities and life histories. She has captured much of their lives on video, which she is using to build a growing database.
And next year Dr. Herzing plans to begin a new phase of her research, something she says has been a lifetime goal: real-time two-way communication, in which dolphins take the initiative to interact with humans.
Up to now, dolphins have shown themselves to be adept at responding to human prompts, with food as a reward for performing a task. “It’s rare that we ask dolphins to seek something from us,” Dr. Herzing said.
But if she is right, the dolphins will seek to communicate with humans, and the reward will be social interaction itself, with dolphins and humans perhaps developing a crude vocabulary for objects and actions.
Other scientists are excited by the project. “ ‘Mind-blowing’ doesn’t do justice to the possibilities out there,” said Adam Pack, a cetacean researcher at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and an occasional collaborator with Dr. Herzing. “You’ve got crystal-clear warm water, no land in sight and an interest by this community of dolphins of engaging with humans.”
How far will dolphins go to engage?
“The key is going to be coming up with a system in which the dolphins want to communicate,” said Stan Kuczaj, director of the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi. “If they don’t care, it won’t work.”
Dr. Kuczaj developed an early two-way communication system while working at a captive lab in Orlando in the late 1980s. The system relied on visual symbols, not sound, and used a large stationary keyboard that proved to be too cumbersome.
But he says that the effort gave him confidence that such a system could work and that Dr. Herzing is “definitely the closest to getting there.”
“If it works,” he said, “it’ll be a huge step forward.”
Dr. Herzing’s work has been compared to that of Jane Goodall, whose studies of chimpanzees also entailed decades of observational fieldwork.
Born in 1957 in St. Cloud, Minn., Dr. Herzing first encountered dolphins while poring through books as a child, and she realized that the animals would be her life’s work. Her mother died when she was young; her father, a security guard, encouraged her early to explore the natural world.
After graduating from Oregon State, she earned a master’s degree from San Francisco State and a doctorate in behavioral biology and environmental studies from the Union Institute Graduate School, based in Cincinnati.
In 1985, as a researcher with the Oceanic Society, she found this spot in the Bahamas, where the conditions seemed perfect for dolphin observation. That year she started the Wild Dolphin Project, and began using video to document dolphin society.
“In the early days, it was hard to get the animals comfortable with us,” she said. “I often worked in the water by myself. As my eye developed, I was able to say, ‘O.K., here’s a good sequence.’ And I became able to shoot and keep an eye on what else is going on around.”
The project is largely financed by foundations, including the Annenberg Foundation. In 2008, Dr. Herzing was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship.
Back on her research vessel, a 62-foot catamaran called the Stenella (the Atlantic spotted dolphin is Stenella frontalis), Dr. Herzing reviews video from the day and logs moments of foraging, courtship and play into a growing database. With a few keystrokes she (and other researchers) can summon 25 years of video on a specific behavior — say, a mother foraging with a calf, which can lend great insight to how dolphins teach their children to find food.
“It’s incredibly valuable,” said Laela Sayigh, a research specialist in dolphin communication at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Dolphins are known to make three types of sounds: whistles, clicks and burst pulses. Whistles are thought to be identification sounds, like names, while clicks are used to navigate and to find prey with echolocation.
Burst pulses, which can sound like quarreling cartoon chipmunks, are a muddy mixture of the two, and Dr. Herzing believes that much information may be encoded in these sounds, as well as in dolphins’ ultra-high frequencies, which humans cannot hear.
The two-way system she will test next year is being developed with artificial intelligence scientists at Georgia Tech. It consists of a wearable underwater computer that can make dolphin sounds, but also record and differentiate them in real time. It must also distinguish which dolphin is making the sound, a common challenge since dolphins rarely open their mouths.
In the new system, two human divers interact in front of dolphins: First they play a synthesized whistle sound, then one hands the other a scarf or a piece of seaweed. The idea is to establish an association between sound and object. Dolphins are excellent mimics, and the hope is that they will imitate the whistle to request an object or initiate play.
“I think if they pick up on it,” Dr. Herzing said, “they’re going to be excited and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, now I have the power to get what I want in real time.’ ”
Still, she is quick to play down expectations, noting that the system is still in development.
“We’re not talking to dolphins,” she said, adding, “We’ll keep it simple and then we can potentially expand it.”
And while other researchers praise her work, they point out that of dolphin-human communication has often fallen short of expectations.
“It depends on what you mean by communicate,” Dr. Kuczaj said. “I can communicate with my dog, too. But do I have conversations with my dog? Well, if I do they’re very one-sided.”
“I’m kind of an old-school naturalist,” she said. “I really believe in immersing yourself in the environment of the animal.”
Immerse herself she has. Based in Jupiter, Fla., she has tracked three generations of dolphins in this area. She knows every animal by name, along with individual personalities and life histories. She has captured much of their lives on video, which she is using to build a growing database.
And next year Dr. Herzing plans to begin a new phase of her research, something she says has been a lifetime goal: real-time two-way communication, in which dolphins take the initiative to interact with humans.
Up to now, dolphins have shown themselves to be adept at responding to human prompts, with food as a reward for performing a task. “It’s rare that we ask dolphins to seek something from us,” Dr. Herzing said.
But if she is right, the dolphins will seek to communicate with humans, and the reward will be social interaction itself, with dolphins and humans perhaps developing a crude vocabulary for objects and actions.
Other scientists are excited by the project. “ ‘Mind-blowing’ doesn’t do justice to the possibilities out there,” said Adam Pack, a cetacean researcher at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and an occasional collaborator with Dr. Herzing. “You’ve got crystal-clear warm water, no land in sight and an interest by this community of dolphins of engaging with humans.”
How far will dolphins go to engage?
“The key is going to be coming up with a system in which the dolphins want to communicate,” said Stan Kuczaj, director of the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi. “If they don’t care, it won’t work.”
Dr. Kuczaj developed an early two-way communication system while working at a captive lab in Orlando in the late 1980s. The system relied on visual symbols, not sound, and used a large stationary keyboard that proved to be too cumbersome.
But he says that the effort gave him confidence that such a system could work and that Dr. Herzing is “definitely the closest to getting there.”
“If it works,” he said, “it’ll be a huge step forward.”
Dr. Herzing’s work has been compared to that of Jane Goodall, whose studies of chimpanzees also entailed decades of observational fieldwork.
Born in 1957 in St. Cloud, Minn., Dr. Herzing first encountered dolphins while poring through books as a child, and she realized that the animals would be her life’s work. Her mother died when she was young; her father, a security guard, encouraged her early to explore the natural world.
After graduating from Oregon State, she earned a master’s degree from San Francisco State and a doctorate in behavioral biology and environmental studies from the Union Institute Graduate School, based in Cincinnati.
In 1985, as a researcher with the Oceanic Society, she found this spot in the Bahamas, where the conditions seemed perfect for dolphin observation. That year she started the Wild Dolphin Project, and began using video to document dolphin society.
“In the early days, it was hard to get the animals comfortable with us,” she said. “I often worked in the water by myself. As my eye developed, I was able to say, ‘O.K., here’s a good sequence.’ And I became able to shoot and keep an eye on what else is going on around.”
The project is largely financed by foundations, including the Annenberg Foundation. In 2008, Dr. Herzing was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship.
Back on her research vessel, a 62-foot catamaran called the Stenella (the Atlantic spotted dolphin is Stenella frontalis), Dr. Herzing reviews video from the day and logs moments of foraging, courtship and play into a growing database. With a few keystrokes she (and other researchers) can summon 25 years of video on a specific behavior — say, a mother foraging with a calf, which can lend great insight to how dolphins teach their children to find food.
“It’s incredibly valuable,” said Laela Sayigh, a research specialist in dolphin communication at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Dolphins are known to make three types of sounds: whistles, clicks and burst pulses. Whistles are thought to be identification sounds, like names, while clicks are used to navigate and to find prey with echolocation.
Burst pulses, which can sound like quarreling cartoon chipmunks, are a muddy mixture of the two, and Dr. Herzing believes that much information may be encoded in these sounds, as well as in dolphins’ ultra-high frequencies, which humans cannot hear.
The two-way system she will test next year is being developed with artificial intelligence scientists at Georgia Tech. It consists of a wearable underwater computer that can make dolphin sounds, but also record and differentiate them in real time. It must also distinguish which dolphin is making the sound, a common challenge since dolphins rarely open their mouths.
In the new system, two human divers interact in front of dolphins: First they play a synthesized whistle sound, then one hands the other a scarf or a piece of seaweed. The idea is to establish an association between sound and object. Dolphins are excellent mimics, and the hope is that they will imitate the whistle to request an object or initiate play.
“I think if they pick up on it,” Dr. Herzing said, “they’re going to be excited and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, now I have the power to get what I want in real time.’ ”
Still, she is quick to play down expectations, noting that the system is still in development.
“We’re not talking to dolphins,” she said, adding, “We’ll keep it simple and then we can potentially expand it.”
And while other researchers praise her work, they point out that of dolphin-human communication has often fallen short of expectations.
“It depends on what you mean by communicate,” Dr. Kuczaj said. “I can communicate with my dog, too. But do I have conversations with my dog? Well, if I do they’re very one-sided.”
Monday, September 26, 2011
| First Nation Mercury Survivors Visit Japanese Mercury Experts | | Print | |
| Written by Grassy Narrows Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek | |
| 2011-09-26 06:14:52 Three Indigenous peoples of Canada have just returned from speaking in three Japanese communities as part of the screening of Tadashi Orui's film titled "The Scars of Mercury,” hosted by the Kumamoto Gakuen University Minamata Research team. Asubpeeschoseewagong and Wabaseemoong delegates were in Japan for September 6th to 18th, 2011. Chief Simon.R.Fobister says that "We had an opportunity to share our mercury poisoning experience & symptoms of Minamata Disease with the people of Japan. Some were surprised that Minamata Disease was so global. Also, they had better compensation structured settlements and medical supports then our tw6 communites which inspired us to seek the same for our people." “We are still fighting for justice for the mercury that was dumped in our river which continues to poison our bodies,” said Judy Da Silva, a delegate from Grassy Narrows. “Our people require control over our lands and our lives in order to heal the damage that residential schools, mercury, resource extraction, and over-logging have done to our culture, or livelihood, and our bodies.” “We are connected to the people of Minamata Japan through our experience of a shared history with industrial environmental destruction, as well as the present situation of the devastating mercury contamination which has touched our communities and continues to affect our way of life,” said Sylvia Morriseau, a delegate from Wabaseemong. “The land, water, animals, people, and every thread of our way of life and living has been affected.” Our days were solidly booked with visits to families affected by mercury, speaking in public forums, and meeting with renowned mercury expert Dr. Harada. What we learned from this trip was inspiring and life changing; We spent the first week in Kumamoto, Japan (southern part) where we met the hosting delegation from the Komamoto Gakuen University. The hosting team included Doctor's, Assistant Researchers and families for the Minamata disease Research & committee members including Dr Harada and Dr Hanada. From there we spent a few more days in Minamata Japan and finally Tokyo, Japan. We were treated with great honor, had fine accommodations and were well taken care of. We were able to make good contacts in Japan that we can communicate with in regards to the Minamata Disease and how similar our situations are. We were able to be a witness and also get information through power point presentations and testimonies of the Minamata Disease (mercury poisoning) that occurred in Minamata Japan. We saw we are truly linked by the Minamata Disease in our community. The evidence of the alignment of our communities with the Minamata Disease was so clear to us. The information that was handed to us by the Japanese doctors shows in detailed graphs and numbers the alignment of numbers from Dr. Harada's visit in 1975, 2004 and 2010 to Grassy Narrows. We are hoping the Japanese doctors will come back to Wabaseemoong to further their studies on the affects of mercury poisoning on their people. The benefits of our journey were tremendous and we will never forget this journey. |
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Obama waives sanctions on Iceland whaling
WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama decided Thursday not to impose trade sanctions against Iceland, despite saying that its whale hunts were undermining international efforts to preserve the ocean giants.Obama chose to order the State Department and Commerce Department to keep Iceland's whaling activities under review and to urge the government in Reykjavik to halt the practice.
"Iceland's actions threaten the conservation status of an endangered species and undermine multilateral efforts to ensure greater worldwide protection for whales," said Obama in a message to Congress.
"Iceland's increased commercial whaling and recent trade in whale products diminish the effectiveness of the (International Whaling Commission) conservation program."
After a pressure campaign by environmentalists, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke earlier this year certified Iceland under a domestic law that allows retaliation against nations that flout the IWC moratorium.
But Obama said in the message that "I am not directing the Secretary of the Treasury to impose trade measures on Icelandic products for the whaling activities that led to the certification by the Secretary of Commerce."
Instead, Obama directed US government officials to consider the appropriateness of traveling to Iceland, to raise the whaling issue with officials when they are there and to keep the situation under review.
Under a law known as the Pelly Amendment, countries that violate global fisheries conservation agreements are subject to economic sanctions but Obama's action on Thursday waived its requirements.
The International Whaling Commission imposed a global moratorium on whaling in 1986 amid alarm at the declining stock of the marine mammals. Norway and Iceland are the only nations to defy the moratorium openly.
Japan hunts more than 1,000 whales a year, a point of intense dispute with Australia. But Japan considers itself within the rules of the IWC by invoking a clause that allows a catch for scientific research.
Japan has actively campaigned to end the moratorium, saying that whaling is its cultural right. Environmentalists counter that whale populations are at risk and highlight the mammals' intelligence, saying the slaughter is cruel.
Iceland, which resumed commercial whaling in 2006, is seen as less entrenched in its position than Japan and Norway. Iceland, a country of 320,000 people, has a small market at home and its exports to Japan are uncertain.
Iceland's whaling company, Hvalur, suspended fin whaling after Japan's March 11 earthquake hit demand. Iceland killed about 150 fin whales and between 60 and 80 minke whales last year.
The United States has previously invoked the Pelly Amendment against Norway and Japan but it has not followed through on sanctions, hoping instead to use the certification as a means of pressure.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
New species of dolphin discovered
Formal delineation of dolphin species is notoriously tricky Researchers have determined that dolphins found in southeastern Australia represent a previously unknown species.
Around 150 of the dolphins live around the Melbourne area and had until now been assumed to be one of the known bottlenose dolphins.But detailed DNA studies and analysis of skulls in museums showed the two populations are in fact a new species.
The new classification as Tursiops australis is described in PLoS One.
The common name of Burrunan dolphins derives from the Aboriginal Australian for "large sea fish of the porpoise kind".
Previous research had shown that the DNA found in the dolphins differed from that of the known bottlenose species Tursiops truncatus and Tursiops aduncus.
But in order to define a new species, more evidence is needed. Kate Charlton-Robb of Monash University in Melbourne and her colleagues studied dolphin skulls found in a number of museums, as well as more detailed analysis of DNA, to show that T. australis is clearly a different animal.
"This is an incredibly fascinating discovery as there have only been three new dolphin species formally described and recognised since the late 1800s," Ms Charlton-Robb said.
"What makes this even more exciting is this dolphin species has been living right under our noses, with only two known resident populations living in Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria state."
In fact, now that it is recognised as a separate species it may immediately qualify under Australia's criteria for endangered animals.
"The formal recognition of this new species is of great importance to correctly manage and protect this species, and has significant bearing on the prioritisation of conservation efforts," the authors wrote.
"This is especially crucial given its endemism to a small region of the world, with only two small known resident populations."
Related Stories
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
OCEAN PARK IN HONG KONG WANT TO CAPTURE AND IMPRISON BELUGA WHALES
by HongKong Dolphinwatch on Thursday, 18 August 2011 at 06:18
South China Morning Post 18th August, 2011
Ocean Park wants to know what you would think if a group of beluga whales was captured in the wild and brought back to Hong Kong for display in a new North Pole attraction.
The popular aquarium and theme park has commissioned an independent public opinion survey, officials said yesterday, as they consider the politically fraught decision to import the hump-headed sea mammals, which are classified by conservation groups as "near threatened".
Specifically, the poll would ask Hong Kong residents how they would feel if Ocean Park brought four or five of the animals, known also as white whales, back from Russia's far east, according to someone familiar with the acquisition plan.
The plan would be to put the animals on display along in its new Polar Adventure exhibit along with South Pole penguins recently acquired from a Japanese zoo.
Conservationists, however, dismissed the poll as an attempt to justify a decision after it has been made.
"Isn't it too late to ask the public's view?" said Dr Samuel Hung Ka-yiu, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society. "They have already built a facility and now can't wait to fill it."
An Ocean Park spokeswoman said the agency was still processing the survey and the park would announce the findings as soon as possible and make a decision afterwards. Redeveloped portions of the park will open next year.
A person familiar with the plan insisted the any whale capture would hinge on the outcome of the poll and the park was prepared to walk away from the idea. "It would be difficult to go ahead with the plan without public support," the source said.
The park says the import of the belugas - probably the most controversial of its recent intakes - could help enforce conservation efforts by giving the public the chance to see the view the animals close up.
Conservation groups assign the category "near threatened" - below "least concern" and above "vulnerable" - to animals that have sufficient numbers to survive on their own or with minimum human intervention. Although beluga whales are considered "near threatened" globally, certain North American subpopulations are considered endangered.
A population assessment sponsored by Ocean Park, which has recently been reviewed by a specialist group under the International Union for Conservation of Nature, concluded that removal of a certain number of beluga whales from the wild might be acceptable.
Park officials say they are confident risks to the animals in capture and transport would be low but are also aware of the potential for public criticism if any problems arise.
Beluga whales were just one of several animals on Ocean Park's wish list when it announced a HK$5 billion redevelopment plan in 2005. The list has since dwindled, however, with less numerous polar bears and killer whales already dropped.
Last year, the park acquired 10 rare Chinese sturgeon after several in an earlier batch took ill and died.
Officials would not say who they had hired to conduct the survey. Hung, of the dolphin conservation group, questioned any result.
"Most Hong Kong people are emotionally associated with Ocean Park," Hung said. "It is possible some of them might be misled to come to a conclusion favoured by the park."
chifai.cheung@scmp.com
Drop them an email and let them know that not just Hong Kong is concerned, the whole world is watching:
Allan Zeman, Chairman of Ocean Park Hong Kong
Suzanne Gendron, Executive Director Zoological Operations & Animal Acquisitions, Ocean Park Hong Kong
Chifai Cheung, South China Morning Post Reporter
allan@lkfgroup.com, suzanne.gendron@oceanpark.com.hk, chifai.cheung@scmp.com
Monday, September 12, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
It's Complicated: The Lives of Dolphins & Scientists
In the escalating war over dolphin rights, two pioneers in the study of cetacean consciousness have sacrificed their decades-old friendship for their beliefs.
From the September 2011 issue; published online September 7, 2011
iStockphoto.
Lori Marino, a neuroscientist and cetacean expert at Emory University, kicked things off, her soft features belying her outsize thesis: Pound for pound, dolphins are better endowed with gray matter than most primates, falling just short of humans, and the neocortex of their brain is just as complex as our own. Marino’s former mentor and close friend, Diana Reiss, a dolphin researcher at Hunter College in New York City, spoke next. Kinetic where Marino was calm, her jet-black hair contrasting sharply with Marino’s gentle brown, Reiss spoke in more urgent tones. She described her seminal work, conducted with Marino, showing that dolphins could recognize themselves in a mirror, evidence of self-awareness seen until then only in primates and elephants. Treating such creatures as little more than seafood with blowholes was no longer acceptable, in her view. “We face an ethical impasse,” Marino said.
Much of the audience arrived already receptive to the message. A shocking documentary called The Cove, which would win an Oscar two weeks hence, had already alerted the world to the practice of rounding up dolphins by the thousands and hacking them to death, preventing them from competing with fishermen in the Japanese town of Taiji. At the end of the talks, Reiss dimmed the lights and amped up the mood with an even grittier sequence shot by the German advocacy group Atlantic Blue: Dolphins were dragged behind a big blue tarp in bundles held together at the tail, like bananas. Japanese fishermen shoved three-foot poles through the backs of their heads and then pushed wooden dowels into the wounds. The dolphins were already dying, but the dowels stanched the telltale blood that would otherwise drench the lagoon.
After the clip ran, one scientist stood and declared in a huff that activism had no place in science. But others lingered for hours, discussing the concept that dolphins were people—not quite like us, but people all the same
Later that evening, Marino and Reiss met for drinks at a local hotel. For 20 years they had worked together, turning the study of dolphin cognition into a legitimate branch of science. As part of a tight community of serious marine biologists, they had helped rescue their fledgling field from New Age ignominy, fiercely imposing rigor where pseudoscience once reigned and proving that dolphins possess a complex intelligence comparable to our own. But as with some of their predecessors—researchers long since rejected by the broad scientific community—Marino and Reiss risked being branded as extremists or flakes. By 2010 the dolphins, too, had been their friends for decades. As the night wore on, the two scientists returned to the topic of the Japanese drives. The science had led them here, they said, and advocating for the dolphins was their only moral choice
The meeting in San Diego may have seemed like the beginning of a new era in the battle for dolphin rights, but for two close friends it marked an end. By the time the year was out, the relationship was fractured, with Reiss insisting that science often required working with captive dolphins, regardless of their intelligence, and Marino calling that viewpoint morally wrong. Marino was so offended by Reiss’s stance that she wrote a letter to The New York Times calling her a hypocrite. For Reiss and Marino the break has been personal, but for science it forces out into the open a deep professional question: How close can a scientist get to her experimental subjects or her fellow researchers before objectivity itself disappears?
Reiss and Marino grudgingly say that their story starts with John Lilly, the self-professed father of “dolphinology,” an iconoclastic voice of the New Age and a notorious crosser of lines in science himself. Back in the 1950s, Lilly was a National Institute of Mental Health neuroscientist who dabbled in isolation tanks, darkened chambers of lukewarm water in which a test subject—often Lilly himself—could float serenely, completely cut off from the outside world. It was Lilly’s isolation experiences that led to his obsession with bottlenose dolphins, animals he assumed must live in a permanent floating state. Lilly did some of the first work in dolphin intelligence. He insisted that “interspecies communication” was possible and hoped to teach the animals English. To that end, he relentlessly recorded their whistles, clicks, and piercing screams, which he incorrectly compared to rapid human speech. In 1961 Lilly published Man and Dolphin, the first of his many popular books holding that dolphins were not just intelligent but nearly human.
To achieve human-dolphin discourse, Lilly believed, Homo sapiens and Tursiops truncatus had to share their lives. By 1965 he had sealed a house in the Virgin Islands so that the bottom few feet of several rooms and a balcony overlooking the ocean resembled a huge bathtub. Then he pumped in 22 inches of seawater, enough to provide a shared abode for his human assistant, Margaret Howe, and a dolphin named Peter. Howe grew increasingly isolated and depressed while Peter tried to knock her down and mate with her, and the experiment ended after 10 unsanitary weeks.
In California, Seals Are Rescued Not Butchered Like In Canada
I took these photos just outside of San Clemente at a Rescue Centre for Seals where they are eventually returned to the Ocean.
Orca Tug-Of-War
Ingrid Visser
Morgan the orca, looks out of her tank at Dolfinarium Harderwijk in the Netherlands
Orca Tug-of-War
Activists and Scientists Challenge SeaWorld Over Morgan’s Captivity
Friday, September 9, 2011
Share ArticleA group of Santa Barbara residents – lead by animal activist Dove Joans – support the release of Morgan. When Joans was made aware of Morgan’s plight about a month ago, she arranged to make a PSA to throw a spotlight on the issue. “It was the best and immediate way for me to answer Morgan’s urgent call for help,” Joans said of the strategy. “By bringing attention to Morgan’s life story – and the possibility of her losing her freedom – it’s a way to educate the public that captivity is not the answer to understanding our ‘intellectual counterpart’ in the ocean.”
“The PSA,” Joans went on, “gives the Santa Barbara community and the public worldwide a chance to take a stand, hopefully motivating individuals to make a difference not only in Morgan’s life but also in future generations of humans and cetaceans.”
Shot by Santa Barbara’s Low Tide Rising studio, the PSA features some of the area’s most recognizable ocean lovers. Jean-Michel Cousteau of Ocean Futures Society emphasizes in the recording that this is an “emotional situation” and that a “marine mammal in captivity is like a human in prison.” He encourages people to go whale watching because, as he put it, “It’s so much more interesting than seeing an orca in a tank.” In an interview after the shoot, Cousteau credited the Dolfinarium Harderwijk with doing the right thing “by capturing Morgan to help her get better. Now,” he went on, “the right thing would be to release her, let her go home. If you go to the hospital and get treated, you still go home once you’re healthy.”
Sculptor Bud Bottoms, who created the Santa Barbara Friendship Fountain that marks the entrance to Stearns Wharf, also appears in the PSA because, “Anything that has to do with saving sea mammals, I endorse 100 percent,” he said. Bottoms also referred to the orca named Keiko who became world famous for his role in the movie Free Willy. After his appearance in the film – and 19 years in captivity – letters from millions of children all over the world helped encourage his release. “The children freed Keiko,” said Bottoms. “We should get off our high horse and help Morgan.”
Leading orca researcher Dr. Ingrid Visser of New Zealand, who has dedicated the past few months to Morgan’s release effort and who also appears in the PSA, claims that putting Morgan back into the wild and reuniting her with her family is the only right thing to do. “The harvesting of orcas around Norway has put an incredible stress on that orca population as a whole,” she explained. “A single individual, such as Morgan, has a huge long term impact on a population. If you remove her, then you are effectively removing a young female who would, if returned, provide another gene source for the population through her offspring.”
As of now, there are three possible destinations for Morgan. A judge stated last month that Morgan will either be exported to Loro Parque on the Spanish island of Tenerife, rehabilitated then released into the wild, or remain at Dolfinarium.
SeaWorld is working with the Dolfinarium Harderwijk to ensure what they believe is the best option for Morgan. Fred Jacobs, SeaWorld spokesperson, told The Independent that “a panel of zoologists and marine scientists issued a report saying that the most humane option for Morgan is to join other members of her species in a zoological setting.”
“One of our former veterinarians, Jim McBain, was on the scientific panel that recommended against any attempt to return Morgan to the wild,” continued Jacobs. “We are working with Dolfinarium Harderwijk and Loro Parque on the transfer of Morgan to [Loro Parque]. We’d like to see her join other members of her species in a high quality, professionally operated zoological institution. Loro Parque is among the world’s most respected zoological institutions.”
Visser, on the other hand, pointed out in an email that, “For Morgan herself, there is no comparison: Live life in a barren concrete tank, be subjected to demeaning and meaningless tricks every day, do no exercise, eat dead fish only, and live for maybe 10 to 20 ‘years.’ Or, return to the ocean where she would have a dynamic habitat with changes such as water temperature and salinity, waves, storms, and getting to travel kilometers in a single day, to feed on a variety of different prey, socialize and play, and live to be around 80 to 90 years old.”
According to Visser, the Dolfinarium made recordings of Morgan’s sonar call to help locate her family somewhere around Norway. However, Jacobs from SeaWorld said, “These individuals do not have any idea who Morgan’s family is or where they are. They don’t have a plausible plan to learn those things.”
“In the meantime,” Jacobs said, “Morgan continues to grow and develop in the care of humans, which means that she has already lost the instinctive fear and suspicion of people that might allow her to succeed in the wild. She has also never acquired any of the communication or group hunting skills that she would need to thrive.”
But, Visser said, it is not too late for Morgan to learn these basic survival methods.
“The Free Morgan Foundation has formulated a very robust plan based on recommendations by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), and with contributions from the scientific community who have experience with this type of reintroduction. It is multi-faceted with constituency plans and risk assessments. We know it can work because it has in the past,” stated Visser, who continued:
“Morgan has become attached to the humans who hold her captive because they provide her with food. But part of our rehabilitation process is to extinguish that link of food to humans. The Dolfinarium has been encouraging these types of behaviors as ‘excuses’ to keep Morgan in captivity. In the same way she learned them, they can be unlearned.”
Jacobs with SeaWorld said if Morgan does go to Loro Parque, “She will do what the other killer whales there do: interact with other whales and the zoological staff. She may breed some day and have a calf of her own. She, like all whales in our collection, will be the subject of scientific research. And, perhaps most importantly, by her presence alone, she will inspire and educate Loro Parque’s guests.”
Interaction with the zoological staff is, according to Visser “not natural,” and she believes that the only interest SeaWorld has in Morgan is for breeding. “Originally, the Dolfinarium stated that Morgan was only one year old when captured,” she said. “We insisted that she was much older – double that age if nor older. The Dolfinarium used this ‘very young age’ as one of the arguments for her to not be released. Once it was ‘decided’ – by them, we might add – that Morgan couldn’t be released, then suddenly the Dolfinarium started saying that she is four to five years of age. Now that they are stating she is ‘unreleasable,’ she can be entered into their breeding program.”
Whether Morgan will be released and reunited with her family, or if she will make the trip from the Netherlands to Spain, will likely be decided at today’s hearing.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Orca Sumar Dies At Sea World In San Diego
Killer whale dies at SeaWorld in San Diego; orca shows canceled
Sumar, a 12-year-old killer whale, died mysteriously Tuesday at SeaWorld in San Diego, forcing cancellation of the orca shows at Shamu Stadium, officials at the park said.
The male orca began acting lethargic on Monday and was given antibiotics by park veterinarians. But his condition worsened and he died at about 1:45 p.m. A necropsy is planned.
The show will resume Wednesday.
Sumar, approximately 15 feet long and 5,300 pounds, had been at the San Diego park since 1999. He was born at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Fla., on May 14, 1998, and spent some months at the SeaWorld park in Ohio before being transferred to San Diego.
While still a calf, Sumar's mother, Taima, attacked him during a show at the Orlando park. The two were separated permanently, and other female orcas acted as Sumar's surrogate mother.
In San Diego, Sumar was a star of the orca shows and was considered a possible candidate for breeding. Six orcas remain at the park.
-- Tony Perry in San Diego
Photo: Sumar. Credit: www.orcahome.de
Email: newstips@latimes.com
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Dolphins May Understand Death
Dolphins May Understand Death
Who has heard a cow bawl for her stillborn calf, a goose honk for his lost mate, or a dog whine for her deceased human companion is likely to call it “grief.” However, attributing emotion to non-human creatures is generally labeled “anthropomorphism” because we cannot prove what we are hearing or seeing really fits the words we have for describing it.
Now a study from Italy identifies apparent awareness of death in bottlenose dolphins. The researchers are careful to avoid claiming what they observe is, in fact, what we understand as human grief, but New Scientist reports, “Taken together with a growing number of reports of cetaceans interacting with dead animals and the discovery that they have specialized neurons linked to empathy and intuition, the Greek study suggests dolphins may have a complex – and even sophisticated – reaction to death.”
Since 2006, the Tethys Research Institute in Milan has been observing dolphins in the Amvrakikos Gulf of western Greece. Joan Gonzalvo cites two incidents in which dolphins appeared to be reacting to death. In the first, he and his volunteers saw a mother repeatedly interacting, “sometimes frantically,” with her dead calf. In the second, a pod of dolphins stayed with a dying youngster until it died.
The New Scientist article also links to research done by the Orca Research Trust in Tutukaka, New Zealand. Ingrid Visser has observed orcas and bottlenose dolphins carrying dead infants and “speculates that the behaviours are a form of grief.”
Scientific caution is important so researchers are reluctant to claim observations such as these prove other species experience human-like emotions. We benefit from the questions they ask, from their probing responses to each other’s conclusions, and from the skepticism that keeps them looking to see if they have considered all contributing factors.
At the same time, our non-human neighbors suffer from our unwillingness to acknowledge their pain, both physical and emotional. We do not have to wait for proof that animals experience what we call joy and grief to treat them with utmost respect and care.
Since 2006, the Tethys Research Institute in Milan has been observing dolphins in the Amvrakikos Gulf of western Greece. Joan Gonzalvo cites two incidents in which dolphins appeared to be reacting to death. In the first, he and his volunteers saw a mother repeatedly interacting, “sometimes frantically,” with her dead calf. In the second, a pod of dolphins stayed with a dying youngster until it died.
The New Scientist article also links to research done by the Orca Research Trust in Tutukaka, New Zealand. Ingrid Visser has observed orcas and bottlenose dolphins carrying dead infants and “speculates that the behaviours are a form of grief.”
Scientific caution is important so researchers are reluctant to claim observations such as these prove other species experience human-like emotions. We benefit from the questions they ask, from their probing responses to each other’s conclusions, and from the skepticism that keeps them looking to see if they have considered all contributing factors.
At the same time, our non-human neighbors suffer from our unwillingness to acknowledge their pain, both physical and emotional. We do not have to wait for proof that animals experience what we call joy and grief to treat them with utmost respect and care.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/dolphins-may-understand-death.html#ixzz1WzzyfD7b
KILLER WHALES OR ORCAS IN CANADA DYING FROM STARVATION AND LUNA'S TRAGIC FATE
The following is copied from the internet:
Death
On March 10, 2006, what many warned was inevitable, happened—Luna approached a boat he had grown familiar with, the ocean tugboat General Jackson in Nootka Sound.[19] It is believed that Luna went up to the tugboat intentionally, as he often did, to engage in playful activity. Apparently underestimating the power of the vessel—tugboats have much more powerful engines than other ships of their size—Luna was pulled into the blades and subsequently killed.Luna's death was met with both anger and frustration. Michael Harris of Orca Conservancy, which since 2001 had led the campaign to force the hand of the Canadian government to intervene on behalf of Luna, was particularly outspoken about DFO's failure to enforce laws that should have restricted public access to the orca and prevented private citizens the opportunity to interact with the whale and further acclimate it to humans and boats. Harris also criticized DFO more broadly for its gross negligence throughout the crisis and in the end its failure to rescue and repatriate a critical member of an endangered transboundary population of killer whales — a listing that in the U.S. his organization Petitioned and later won an historic court case to achieve.
"This is the Katrina of orca advocacy," Harris said. "We saw a perfect storm gathering, and they sat around and did nothing, and now we've got a dead whale! It's incredibly tragic and frustrating." [20]
After Luna's death, a spokesperson for the DFO said that it never gave up on the idea of reuniting Luna with his pod, and had "always considered" the option to have one or more boats lead Luna out of Nootka Sound.
Luna's mother, Splash, went missing in 2008 and was presumed to have died at the age of 33. Luna's six-year-old younger brother Aurora (L101), also went missing and was presumed dead that year. Splash had been showing signs of starvation, probably due to declines in Chinook salmon stocks, the main prey species for resident killer whales
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
The Dolphin Surfers of Australia
The last few months i have been competing in Olympic qualifiers for fencing....Hungary, Rio De Janiero, Havana, Nanjing, Shanghai...and finally last but not least Australia. Have been lucky to spend time in the ocean in most of those countries...swimming or surfing between fencing competitions and training sessions. Not until Australia did i finally see a pod of dolphins....they showed up out of the blue... had been swimming in a pool next to the ocean when i overheard someone holler "Look! Dolphins!". A pod of dolphins were surging fast towards the surfers...like children running to a park. So excited to join in and to show off their surfing skills to the surfers.....and playfully jumping out of the water! All the surfers were smiling....and everyone on land watching the dolphins were smiling and laughing as well at their showmanship and cute personalities. So much more enjoyable to watch them in the wild than in captivity....interacting with people of their own free-will. Was told that they show up almost everyday to play in the surf with the surfers....
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Goddesses of the Yangtze River
I am now in Nanjing, China which lies along the Yangtze river. The Chinese dolphins of the Yangtze are now officially declared "extinct". They were venerated as " goddesses of the Yangtze'; until China's "great leap forward"; at which time they began to be hunted for food. In the 1970's, with numbers drastically reduced, hunting was outlawed; but it was too late and pollution, etc killed off the remaining population.
The Chinese are making efforts to save the Finless Porpoise from the same fate. It is against the law to hunt the Finless Porpoise in either China or Japan.
The Chinese are making efforts to save the Finless Porpoise from the same fate. It is against the law to hunt the Finless Porpoise in either China or Japan.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Earthquake
When checking my emails this morning, the headlines of a M8.9 earthquake and a Tsunami hitting Japan made my heart stop....immediately thought of my good friends in Taiji and of course, the dolphins at the whale museum and in the harbour pens. Then i saw that it was Northern Japan that was hit not Taiji...I contacted friends in Taiji as there was still the danger of a Tsunami striking Taiji as has happened in the past and my friends are all OK!.
My heart goes out to Japan for the lives lost today.
A friend in Taiji told me today that the waves are very BIG there!
* March 11/11:This update on the dolphins in the Habour pens of Taiji came through from Mark Bramberry on Facebook:
Also, it was suggested that taking iodine pills might be wise as there is suspected leaking radiation from nuclear reactors.
* March 11/11: This report in from TDAG from Japan:
Nuclear radioactive steam release information from Fukushima Nuclear power plant still not being given accurate attention in the news in my opinion. Here is one report:
The amount of radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level in the No. 1 reactor's control room, the Kyodo news agency reported the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency as saying.
My heart goes out to Japan for the lives lost today.
A friend in Taiji told me today that the waves are very BIG there!
* March 11/11:This update on the dolphins in the Habour pens of Taiji came through from Mark Bramberry on Facebook:
:" Screams were from dolphins from an Aussie near the area. He went safely up Tsunami Hill. Sorry to report that none of the dolphins were seen to have escaped. Boats did get out to ride out the waves."
Also, it was suggested that taking iodine pills might be wise as there is suspected leaking radiation from nuclear reactors.
* March 11/11: This report in from TDAG from Japan:
Nuclear radioactive steam release information from Fukushima Nuclear power plant still not being given accurate attention in the news in my opinion. Here is one report:
The amount of radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level in the No. 1 reactor's control room, the Kyodo news agency reported the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency as saying.
If the Pentagon/NYT report becomes public knowledge in Japan we may see panic in Tokyo."
www.nytimes.com
If the Pentagon/NYT report becomes public knowledge in Japan we may see panic in Tokyo."
www.nytimes.comTuesday, March 8, 2011
Being an Eco Tourist InTaiji, Japan
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| Engarde! |
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| Strolling through a beautiful Japanese Garden *Photos by Bob Timmons "Artist for the Ocean" |
Friday, March 4, 2011
Singapore Zoo And The Pink Dolphins of Singapore
In 2008, the Canadian Women's Epee Team spent a week training in Singapore; before going on to Beijing for the World Team Championships. On a rest day, we took in the Singapore Zoo.....if only more zoos were like this one! However.....we did not swim with the pink dolphins of Singapore....aside from the fact that they are captive....there were rumours of abuse!.
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| Kangaroos on the loose! |
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| Kisses! |
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
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