Tag Archives: marine biology

Whats on the reef in the Florida Keys

Want to see some amazing animals that can be found in the Florida Keys? Click through the photo slideshow! Want to see a less informational, more fun video of my time in the Florida Keys? That’s down at the bottom. Enjoy!

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What would you take into the field?

As the time draws closer for my first ever extended period in the field as a real-live grownup, I find my self wondering, what on earth do I bring with me? Of course as a girl I wonder what if I need to look nice? Should I bring make-up? Just in case? Maybe follow Mireya Mayor‘s lead and pack a little black dress? But then the outdoors[wo]man in me kicks in and I wonder which parts of my Wilderness First Aid training I’ll need to use… Will I have to splint a leg with branches and a sleeping bag? What about stop a gushing wound? Then I wonder if I’ll end up pulling something Bear Grylls-esc and get stranded away from my camp and have to use nothing but a knife, a lighter and the shirt off my back to survive for days on end while living on the leaves and trying to not get eaten by a lion.

Well most of this stuff probably won’t happen, but now you know what it sounds like in my head! But I was curious after reading Mireya Mayor’s book Pink Boot and a Machete about what kinds of quirky things are useful in a field situation, so I reached out. I asked the Twitterverse what their item they would never be caught without in the field was, which also morphed into, which books do you read in the field. Here are some of the great responses:

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blackfish

Blackfish is a documentary following the life of Tilikum the orca, also known as the ‘killer’ whale, that has killed three people while in captivity. The documentary airs tomorrow on CNN with the tagline Never Capture What you Can’t Control. I encourage those who can to take a look at the documentary tomorrow (thursday) night at 9pm ET/PT. It is also showing in some theaters.

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morbillivirus hits dolphin population hard

There are many natural ways that the population of a species is controlled; natural disasters, wars, and disease outbreak. The human population has had minor disease outbreaks in the last few decades, but nothing on the scale of the bubonic plague in the mid 1300’s. The human population is long overdue for another plague, which is a sad truth. There unfortunately is a disease outbreak in another species that has had a lot of press recently.

Photo from USA today
Photo from USA today

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does the caged sea canary sing?

The Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted in 1972 to protect any and all marine mammals from U.S. citizens who might want to take them or import them. The Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld and Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium are working to try to import the 18 Russian beluga whales that they captured between the years of 2005 to 2011.

Photo from WWF
Photo from WWF

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odd animal profile: narwhal

Yippee! My favorite cetacean! When I was in high school I went on a dolphin studies program in Belize, and for the final project we had to chose any cetacean and give a presentation on them. I chose the narwhal and have been smitten ever since.

Photo from WWF
Photo from WWF

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dolphins and rape

Once again, the middle of the week has rolled around and I find my self having an abysmally low level of motivation as my finals inch ever closer. So what better way to distract myself than with dolphin sex! Dolphins are known for getting frisky quite often, because everyone knows that darlin’ it’s better down where it’s wetter, take it from me!

Dolphin sex

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