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POPSSperm Whale Classified Carbon Neutral Prior analysis of whale carbon dioxide emissions attributes 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions total to the animals in the Southern Ocean region. Subsequent computation lowers the whales’ carbon dioxide emissions estimate to 0.3 percent, which is equivalent to 17 million tons of carbon a year. Lavery and team explain that there are low levels of iron in the Southern Ocean, and the sperm whales each contribute about 10 grams of iron to the surface. Since the iron comes from the whales’ waste material, it takes the form of liquid plumes, effectively acting as a fertilizer and encouraging growth of plankton. Depending on the exact values and environmental conditions, sperm whales can then be classified “either a net carbon sink or as carbon-neutral,” Discovery writes.
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POPSFriendly Humpback Whales Near Farallon Islands On October 11, 2009, a dramatic event occurred on an Oceanic Society whale watching boat near the Farallon Islands, 25 miles west of San Francisco. The vessel Salty Lady came upon a group of humpback whales, which is not unusual as it had been sighting whales pretty much every whale watching weekend, However, on this trip, four humpback whales approached the boat and for over an hour circled the boat, nearly brushing up against it, and seemed to make contact with the 45 passengers on board. One even lifted its head out of the water with passengers reaching out to pet it. There is no doubt that these whales sought out human contact and some form of communication was taking place. Look for yourself.
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POPSLet Pandas Die Out Whilst I really dislike the thought of these gorgeous creatures becoming extinct, the fact that to keep them alive means they have to survive in zoos - just "feels abominable" to me. They were born to live in the wild and if their habitat no longer exists I think it is cruel to keep them alive in zoos and artificially inseminate them to propogate their species. So this conservationist has a very convincing argument. Maybe we should be using the money to buy up land that is "home/habitat" for these creatures instead of putting them in zoos and subjecting them to even more "human control". Just because we like living in zoos I don't see why we should subject them to it.
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POPSHint of conservation push brightens whaling stalemate "The best science is done by observing live whales in the marine environment, not figuring out how many you can sustainably kill," says Ramage. "We hope it will elicit other countries to participate," says Ramage. He added that encouragingly, the US and Norway had put forward a unanimously adopted resolution for countries to be more sensitive to the effects of climate change on whale and dolphin species. Ramage said that the IWC is undergoing a difficult transition, and hoped that Japan's proposal to be allowed to resume whaling in its own coastal waters would ultimately be rejected. "It would violate the ongoing moratorium, introduced in 1986," said Ramage. Discussions will continue over the coming year about the fate of the IWC, the subject of a review by the "small working group" – a panel of IWC representatives.
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POPSGood news in Taiji btw... john lilly, psychopharmacologist turned LSD-prophet who went into exile and became the founder of inter-species communications and was the focus of the 70s movie, 'day of the dolphin.' in his fabulously important late 1960s book, 'metaprogramming the human biocomputer,' he posed a thesis which has been largely accepted by the biological sciences community. called 'the 9 configurations,' he showed that the 1st config is a single-celled organism with a single command in its program and no way to change. as we come up the ladder to evermore complex organisms, we reach creatures; then creatures which can learn; then we arrive at the 9th configuration, including man, which can not only learn how to learn BUT CAN CHANGE THEIR PROGRAM, not only as a group but as individuals. lilly believed, as i and many others, that psychedelic agents can play a crucial role in the process of seeing and changing the buggy programs.
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POPS10 Deadliest Sea Creatures "Before we continue, a nod to venerable contenders that aren't on the list: killer whales (there are few confirmed attacks, accept by those in captivity), octopuses (yes, they've been known to attack), sea cucumbers (who'da thunk?) and piranhas (which actually live only in freshwater, and whose deadly attacks on people are pure myth)." Live Science
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