whales

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How an Ancient Whale Graveyard Appeared in Chile

2011 find mystified experts

(Newser) - Researchers were left scratching their heads in 2011 when they came upon a trove of whale fossils between 6 million and 9 million years old, of all places in Chile's Atacama Desert. It featured dozens of specimens, accounting for "at least 10 different kinds of marine animals, recurring...

To Count Whales, Scientists Now Spy From Space

Scientists use high-tech imaging techniques

(Newser) - Typically, scientists count whales from a ship's bridge or an airplane, but those techniques come with a number of downsides: They cost a lot of time and money and they can be inaccurate, the Los Angeles Times notes. What's more, "many marine mammal researchers have been killed...

How to Move a Whale Carcass
 How to Move a Whale Carcass 

How to Move a Whale Carcass

City of Edinburgh had to solve the problem in a hurry

(Newser) - Officials in Edinburgh, Scotland, faced a vexing question this week: What do you do with a dead 30-ton whale that washes up on a beach—near a hotel, no less—and begins stinking up the city? The answer involves a crane, a big truck, a landfill, and some unusual images,...

More Whales Found Dead in Florida

Outlook bleak for stranding survivors

(Newser) - Sad news on the pilot whales stranded in the Everglades: Eleven more whales from the pod stranded in shallow water have been found dead and rescuers don't believe there's much hope of finding the other 29 alive, reports CNN . The group was last seen alive Friday, when it...

Hope Spouts for Stranded Florida Whales

Survivors are moving to deeper water but not safe yet

(Newser) - They're not out of the woods—or, more accurately, out of shallow Everglades waters—yet, but rescuers now believe dozens of whales stranded in Florida have a good chance of survival. The surviving 35 pilot whales from the stranded pod are slowly moving toward deeper waters, nudged along by...

10 Whales Dead, 41 in Trouble in Florida

Group of pilot whales stranded in shallow Everglades

(Newser) - A slow-moving marine tragedy is unfolding in the Florida Everglades, where 10 pilot whales are dead and 41 more are stranded in shallow water, reports NBC Miami . Rescuers are trying desperately to coax the whales back to the Gulf of Mexico, but they'd have to make it 20 miles...

Whale Stays by Trapped Buddy Until She's Rescued

And then performs spectacular jump when she's freed

(Newser) - Shortly into a whale-watching trip off the coast of Nova Scotia Sunday, tour guides learned of a whale in distress. The humpback, known as Foggy, was tangled up in fishing line and couldn't lift her tail, so Pirate's Cove Whale and Seabird Cruises called the Campobello Whale Rescue...

App Aims to Keep Whales Safe From Cargo Ships

It tells captains where the creatures are; testing starts this weekend

(Newser) - US federal officials trying to reduce the number of whales struck and killed by ships sailing in and out of San Francisco Bay are testing a new smartphone application that could help locate the mammals more accurately. The "Whale Spotter" app would allow sailors, fishermen, and marine scientists who...

Whales Record Years of Pollution —in Their Earwax

10-inch tube shows when animal was exposed to chemicals

(Newser) - Learning the story of a blue whale's life is easy, if a little disgusting: It's all in the earwax. It forms a tube in the animal's long ear canal, "kind of like a candle that's been roughed up a bit," a researcher tells NPR...

To Avoid Sunburn, Whales Get a Tan

Scientists take first look at how they deal with sun damage

(Newser) - Researchers have found an unusual way in which whales and humans are similar: we both get suntans. Blue whales, especially, tend to tan to protect themselves from the sun's UV rays, reports the Canadian Press . Essentially, they tan during their summer migrations to ward off dangerous sunburns, as a...

Studies Uncover 'Missing Link' in Whale Strandings

Researchers observe how sonar affects behavior

(Newser) - Two new studies have uncovered what the Guardian is terming a "missing link" between sonar and whale strandings. Though the advent of military sonar in the 1950s coincided with a spike in strandings, one of the researchers involved explains that an unknown piece of the puzzle has been how—...

Discovered: How Whales Can Hold Their Breath Underwater

And why you can't

(Newser) - How come some mammals—like whales—can hold their breath underwater for up to an hour, while others—like you—can't? British biologists have figured it out. Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that deep sea diving mammals have more electrically charged proteins in their blood. The...

First Gray Whale Seen South of Equator

One is spotted off the coast of Namibia

(Newser) - Scientists scoping out dolphins off the coast of Namibia this month saw something that by all rights shouldn't have been there: a gray whale. The confirmed sighting marks the first time such a whale has been spotted south of the Equator, reports the Guardian . What's more, gray whales...

Angry Mom Goes After 'Whale Bone Porn'

But museum refuses to take down naughty 'scrimshaw'

(Newser) - A school teacher has launched a personal campaign against what she calls "whale bone porn"—etchings of naughty acts on whale teeth and bone on display at a Vancouver museum, the National Post reports. The Vancouver Maritime Museum has "a new exhibit called Scrimshaw which features numerous...

LA Chef Faces 67 Years Over Sale of Whale Meat

Federal indictment in California includes serious felony charges

(Newser) - A California chef who got busted nearly three years ago on charges of selling illegal whale meat is facing a much more serious sentence than originally thought. Kiyoshiro Yamamoto could get 67 years in prison if convicted of smuggling and selling meat from endangered Sei whales at the now-defunct Hump...

South Korea Ditches Whaling Plans

Outcry prompts shift to non-lethal study

(Newser) - South Korea has backed off its plan to resume lethal Japanese-style "scientific" whaling expeditions in its coastal waters, in the face of an international outcry, the Guardian reports. Instead, it will use non-lethal methods to study the massive mammals. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986, but...

Boy Finds Whale Vomit Worth Thousands


 Boy Finds 
 Whale Vomit 
 Worth 
 Thousands 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Boy Finds Whale Vomit Worth Thousands

It's valuable stuff, at least for perfume makers

(Newser) - One whale's upset stomach is about to make an 8-year-old boy in Britain a tidy little profit. The youth found two solidified clumps of whale vomit on a beach, reports Global Post . And as any reader who made it to chapter 92 of Moby Dick remembers, that's valuable...

Fla. Officials Save 5 Baby Whales as 22 Beach

Baby whales taken to nearby ocean institute, but outcome still in doubt

(Newser) - Rescuers are trying to keep alive five baby whales, from a pod of 22 pilot whales that beached early yesterday near Fort Pierce, Fla., reports the Sun-Sentinel . An animal-rescue team from SeaWorld Orlando transported the survivors to a nearby oceanographic institute, while officials test the deceased whales to see why...

Whale Poop Does Oceans of Good

Whale feces replenish carbon and nitrogen in world's oceans

(Newser) - Hope floats, and so, too, does whale poop. In fact, we should be thankful for whale poop's buoyant nature, marine scientists say, as the “flocculent fecal plumes" of the world's largest animals are one of the more important sources of nutrients for the oceans, reports Wired . While...

Interpol Hunts Whale Wars Star
Interpol Hunts
Whale Wars Star

Interpol Hunts Whale Wars Star

Paul Watson skips bail as Costa Rica seeks to press protest charges

(Newser) - Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Whale Wars reality star Paul Watson after the conservationist skipped bail in Germany. He vanished as Costa Rica was attempting to extradite him on charges of endangering a fishing vessel off Guatemala in 2002, CNN reports. Watson, known for boat maneuvers interfering with...

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