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.
Gregg Treinish is described by National Geographic as an adventurer and conservationist. Avid hiker and explorer turned biologist, Treinish began to work doing field research. After wandering the globe studying many species, from sturgeon to lynx, he founded Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation. If you dream of being an avid conservationist but don’t have the wallet, this is a great way to get involved.
India is the fourth country to ban keeping cetaceans in captivity, behind Costa Rica, Hungary and Chile. Dolphins and other cetaceans have long been kept as a source of entertainment and guaranteed income in zoos and theme parks alike. But knowing what we know now about cetacean intelligence, is that really the right thing to do?
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.
This week in science from I F*cking Love Science
Yesterday was mothers day and so in honor of all the mothers out there, on two legs and on four I am going to tell you a little bit about some very different animal mothers. Dogs adopting lions, whales adopting dolphins, and even a lion adopting an antelope.
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.
Endangered Living 