Bottlenose dolphin with abnormal flukes

This individual was photographed in the Gulf of Corinth on April 11th, 2009, within a group of 14 bottlenose dolphins including two calves.

The group was observed for a total of 130 min. The behaviour of the animal did not seem to differ from that of others, apart from the frequent lifting of its flukes when surfacing. Like other members of the group, this individual performed dives of approximately 2-3-min and was often accompanied by calves or other group members.

SEE MORE PHOTOS

Delphi's Dolphins 01, 5-11 April

All good things will must come to an end, and so it has happened to our volunteering at the Ionian Dolphin Project Research station in Galaxidi, Greece. After 5 magnificent days I say thanks to Giovanni, Silva, Joan und Aina.

Today was the perfect day. The weather was beautiful, sunny, no clouds, no wind. We had just left the harbour, when Joan shouted “dolphins”. Dolphins were everywhere around us. They were jumping and diving and one of them passed our boat. He was so close, I could almost touch him. My heart is still full of thanks and joy. It was the first time I saw bottlenose dolphins in the wild.

Beside watching the dolphins it was also an interesting week. I learned so much about these magnificent animals and its environment. I really like the computer work, cropping and matching the dolphins photos.

One week full of joy, fun, laughing and experience that I will never forget, comes to an end! We will be back one day! I say now bye-bye, adios, arrivederci and addio.

Gunda, Germany

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An experience unsurpassed by any other! I have spent many years working on the waters of the world and have always had some contact to dolphins one way or another. But now after a week here at the Ionian Dolphin Project research station in Galaxidi I see dolphins in a totally different light. Having learned how to spot, classify, and identify dolphins in a way that I never knew existed due to the expert teaching of the people here at the station. It was a feeling of being here not just as an observer, but instead as being an active member of the team being involved in every aspect of the work that makes this type of research possible and at the same time learning so much about how it is done.

It is not only the scientific aspect but also the fun loving atmosphere that being with these people brings. I feel that I have met much more than researchers, I have met new friends that feel as close to as I would feel to my own family. I have enjoyed so much being here and leave tomorrow with a heavy heart, but I know I will be back some day.

Joan, Silvia, Giovanni, and Aina Thank-You so much for such a fantastic experience and being able to be part of the new start and the beginning success of this new station. We WILL be in touch.

William, California

Slow Fish

Dal 17 al 20 aprile, presso il Quartiere fieristico di Genova, si potrà visitare il salone dedicato al consumo del pesce sostenibile: “Slow Fish: buono, pulito e giusto”.

‘Molti stock di pesci sono ormai al collasso, mentre per altre specie il problema non è la sopravvivenza ma le tecniche di pesca o di allevamento che hanno pesanti conseguenze sul benessere del pianeta e sulla nostra salute. In entrambi i casi il ruolo dei consumatori è determinante: con i nostri atti di acquisto e consumo consapevole possiamo incidere in modo positivo sullo stato dei mari…’ così si presenta Slow Fish 2009; l’obiettivo è dunque quello di indirizzare il consumatore verso scelte consapevoli e intelligenti.

Nel pomeriggio di sabato 18 si terrà il convegno ‘Guardie e ladri - rafforzare i controlli sulla pesca per difendere le risorse marine’. Durante questo incontro interverranno diversi esperti del settore. Moderatore dell’evento sarà Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, presidente onorario di Tethys.

SB

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Per ulteriori informazioni:
www.pewenvironment.eu
www.slowfish.it
www.cetaceanalliance.org/wycd_food.htm

My first sighting

On the 7th of April we left the harbour of Galaxidi early in the morning, with calm waters and cold temperatures. You could feel much silence and concentration on board. In our first attempt we sighted a group of dolphins far away, but they disapeared by the time we got there. But after two and a half hours we spotted a group of thirteen bottlenose dolphins (including two calves and one juvenile). This was the first dolphin sighting in my life and I can just say that it was amazing. The dolphins were awesome and not shy at all!

I must say that at the beginning I was quite nervous, as predicted, but I tried to keep calm and do my best to carry out all my duties. I tried to do everything to the best of my abilities. I felt really excited but at the same time I could feel the responsibility of memorising the behaviour and always keep an eye on the dolphins.

I really enjoyed my first survey and I’m sure I’ll never forget it. I feel really lucky and grateful to have this unique opportunity of learning and being able to share with my colleagues Silvia, Joan and Giovanni the development of this new project in the Gulf of Corinth. I really believe in the aims of this project and I’m glad to be here and to be part of it from the begining.

I can´t wait until tomorrow to find the dolphins again! I hope that the next time I will be the first to spot them, that would be wonderful.

Aina Pascual Cuadras

The End of the Line

A feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans. The film shows firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food.

It examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.

Filmed across the world – from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market – featuring top scientists, indigenous fishermen and fisheries enforcement officials, The End of the Line is a wake-up call to the world.

In the film's web site http://endoftheline.com/ you can preview excellent video shots, waiting for the film to be released.

The web site also allows you to claim your bit of ocean - it's a nice idea and a smart way of making the point.

GB

Sea lions and marine debris

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game with Sea Gypsy Research produced an educational video called ‘Entanglement of Steller sea lions in marine debris: identifying causes and finding solutions’.

The video describes how Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) become entangled and - most of the time - dye for this reason, which are the most common sources of entangling debris, and what one could do to help reduce the number of entanglements.

These animals are threatened because of us and unfortunately this problem is not only related to sea lions but affects any marine animals such as cetaceans, elasmobranchs, pinnipeds, sea-turtles, marine birds, and big fishes.

As the video says: “... Since many of us live near some types of waterway, enjoy eating seafood and use plastic materials, we all contribute to the problem... Let’s be part of the solution!”

SB

The video (11 min. long)

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For more information:
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/
http://coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/marine_deb.html

Ionian Dolphin Project: 2009 research gets started

From April the Ionian Dolphin Project at Galaxidi, Gulf of Corinth, will start its first research season. We are all excited about getting out with our boat and collecting data in this area, which is new to us.

Work in the Amvrakikos Gulf and around Kalamos will start later on, from early May.

The Blog will keep you updated about the developments!

(click on image to expand)

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Ionian Dolphin Project

'Delphi's Dolphins' research courses

Talking about swordfish...

The editorial ‘When swordfish conservation biologists eat swordfish’ editorial published in Conservation Biology by Tethys president Giovanni Bearzi is receiving considerable attention.

A number of blogs - including 'The Great Beyond' by the journal Nature - are discussing the opinions stated in the essay.

Some of the readers commented:

Giovanni here is talking about a real, widespread issue and he has hit the nail on the head. Being a conservation biologist myself I am appalled at how some ecologists leave their passion for conservation behind at the office. When i have confronted friends or colleagues about their questionable practices, the response has been "oh, just one person can't make a difference". As scientists, we need to distinguish ourselves from flag-waving environmentalists, but we still need to apply the same principles to ourselves that we are preaching.

and

This essay stands out as more inquisitive and though-provoking than nearly any other.

But not everybody liked it:

This proposal is just absurd. No one looks to scientists for advice on how to live their lives - not even other scientists!

So it appears that the editorial generated some wavelets, and people are at least reading it...

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The editorial:
Bearzi G. 2009. When swordfish conservation biologists eat swordfish. Conservation Biology 23(1):1-2.

Some blogs:
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2009/01/teaching_conservation_biology.html
http://greenstream.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/can-ecologists-live-ethically/
http://blogfishx.blogspot.com/2008/11/when-swordfish-conservation-biologists.html
http://consblog.org/index.php/2009/01/21/deep-and-shallow-ecology/
http://scienceblogs.com/shiftingbaselines/2009/02/january_wrap_up_shifting_basel.php

How does one become a cetacean researcher?

READ as much scientific literature as possible, so that you know everything about your own field of investigation (and beyond)

ATTEND marine science and conservation conferences and workshops

GET TO KNOW the key players in person

VISIT cetacean laboratories, universities, NGO headquarters, museums, libraries, research centres, field stations

PARTICIPATE in field courses and expeditions

SUBSCRIBE to e-mail lists such as marmam and ecs-talk

LEARN from your peers

DEVELOP multiple skills that can benefit your work and career

WRITE as much as you can, and develop an appreciation for structure, meaning, synthesis, style... and lack of typos

COMMIT to what you do, and spend much time and effort actually doing it

DO YOUR BEST which probably means: do not get attached to what you did, as there is still much you can do to make it better.


"I have done my best." That is about all the philosophy of living that one needs.
-- Lin-Yutang

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From:
How does one become a cetacean researcher?

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Photo: the late Kenneth S. Norris, world-renowned expert on whales and dolphins

Don't feed wild dolphins animation

What is a dolphin doing in front of a fireplace with a brown bear, a seagull, another dolphin and two racoons?

He is telling the others 'patients' about his problems, and how it all started...

“For me it started with one hit of sardines.
Oooh... Sardines.
That's when I learned to beg.
It was easy to score free fish.
I mean eh, with this dolphin smile... [clicks].
Yeah, it's illegal but no one cares.
I had a monkey on my back and I was "jonesing" for people food...
Hanging out under boats, dodging props and hooks, doing dangerous stuff that I'm ashamed to admit?
Look... I know that I can kick this, if people would just stop feeding me”.

This animated announcement was produced by a coalition of governmental agencies and private organisations. Through innovative communication, it reminds viewers that feeding wild dolphins or harassing them is illegal and harmful to both dolphins and humans.

Watch the video

Silvia Bonizzoni

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For more information: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov

Advise to a finishing student

This is a message I recently wrote to a student who completed her MSc thesis, which I edited a bit.

It contains some general advise and I thought that this might be useful to others in a similar situation, in addition to the two articles linked below.

GB

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We got there, eventually. Quite good this time, but still lots of edits. Style editing is a never-ending process and you are expected to read and read and read, dozens of times, and improve your text every time - something that most people do not do, or do not want to do. Writing well takes tremendous effort, but few realise how important it is. Your written English needs to be improved (as does mine) but what is most important is structure. This is still below perfection, as you note, but quite good considering where we started, your nationality, and the fact that you are still a beginner after all. Personally, I am satisfied with your work and I think that you should be proud of it. What is mandatory now is turning this into something useful (a thesis is not). Whatever you want to do in the future, try to get this published in the best possible journal. The dataset can be improved and more years can be used. Your Summary is certainly the basis of a potentially good publication, and you should go for it. Publications matter, not theses or other unpublished work. So do not stop after the thesis, thinking that you have accomplished something. In science, accomplishing means publishing in refereed journals. Keep hammering the iron until it's hot, as they say in Italy, and start writing your first publication right away. The thesis Summary can be easily edited into an abstract (which you may want to present at the next marine mammal conference). Think about a Title. Write the first sentence of the Methods. Fill in the empty spaces in the Acknowledgements and Literature cited. You will end up with a draft manuscript that can grow and improve every day. And please, never 'like' what you did, at least as long as it isn't truly perfect. The worst offence you can do to your work is falling in love with it, therefore seeing it as something that can't be further improved. Try to see your work as something that can be improved forever, don't get attached to it, and you will become a good writer.

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More:

Clapham P. 2005. Publish or perish. BioScience 55(5):390-391.

Surviving Professional Puberty in Marine Mammalogy: Things Mom and Dad Didn’t Tell You - by John E. Reynolds, III

The Cove

The movie called 'The Cove' features the attempts of a team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers embarked on a covert mission to penetrate a hidden cove in the small vilage of Taiji (Japan). The mysteries they uncover are only the tip of an iceberg...

This documentary on dolphin captivity issues and dolphin meat consumption won the Audience Award at 2009's Sundance Film Festival.

To see the trailer: http://thecovemovie.com/

SB

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For more information:
http://festival.sundance.org
http://www.salon.com

Synergy and Partnership in Cetacean Science

Between 14-17 March, Tethys researchers Stefano Agazzi and Joan Gonzalvo participated in the workshop "Synergy and Partnership in Cetacean Science" organized by BlueWorld and held in their headquarters on the island of Losinj, Croatia.

The event was organized in the context of the EC project "NGO Capacity Building for Implementation of Natura 2000 Priority Actions".

In addition to Stefano and Joan, other workshop participants included representatives of Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute (Greece), Morigenos (Slovenia) and the entire BlueWorld team.

The aim of the workshop was to present the current research activities carried out by each organization, share methodologies and approaches, explore future collaboration, exchange experiences and problems faced to affectively translate scientific results into conservation action, and discuss the most effective ways to achieve common conservation goals.

This workshop strengthened the friendship among the participating NGOs with the aim of facilitating exchange of students and collaborators and further cetacean research and conservation in the region.

Joan Gonzalvo

A Conservation Plan is not a conservation success

"A Plan is not a conservation success. A conservation success is when there is more of the things you want to conserve than it used to be. (...) If your Plan does not work treat it as an experiment and change the rules."

-- Dr. Jeremy Jackson

'Brave New Ocean' lecture at University of California at Los Angeles, February 17th, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fRPiNcikOU (0:50:20)

Amvrakikos Gulf: new photo-identification data

The research project ‘Dolphins of Greece’, conducted by Tethys in the Amvrakikos Gulf, has recently completed the analysis of photo-identification data pertinent to the whole 2008.

A total of 3,818 selected digital photos, obtained from January to December during sightings along survey transects that cover the whole gulf, allowed to photo-identify 115 individual bottlenose dolphins.

Most of these recognizable individuals are well-known and were already present in the catalogue started in 2001 , but four of them are new animals never seen before.

Ten of the 115 dolphins were sighted together with immature individuals (newborns, calves or juveniles) and this looks like a promising sign for this highly-resident population that lives in a semi-closed eutrophic gulf.

Photographs included a number of non-identifiable animals, i.e. individuals carrying no distinctive marks on their dorsal fins. These, as well as all the subadult classes, should be added to the number of animals sighted in 2008. So, at present, it appears that the total number of animals seen in the Gulf last year is consistent with the population estimate of 150 made in previous years (Bearzi et al. 2008).

Ongoing monitoring will allow researchers to gain insight into the ecology and trends of this unique bottlenose dolphin community.

Silvia Bonizzoni

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For more information:
Bearzi G., Agazzi S., Bonizzoni S., Costa M., Azzellino A. 2008. Dolphins in a bottle: abundance, residency patterns and conservation of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus in the semi-closed eutrophic Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 18(2):130-146.

http://www.tethys.org/projects/IDP

Brave new ocean re-posted

I am going to re-post this in case some of you missed it. It is 1-hour long but worth watching until the end (when it gets more personal and also global).

Brave New Ocean

Some scientists think that Jeremy Jackson is an "environmentalist", which those scientists do not see as a compliment. You can probably judge for yourself, based on your own experience, whether what Dr. Jackson says makes any sense.

Giovanni Bearzi

Sardine frenzy

Amazing footage on sardines feast frenzy has been caught by a BBC crew.

Each winter, cool ocean currents drive millions of these small fish northwards along the eastern coast of South Africa. Here, common dolphins, sharks, pinnipeds and marine birds take advantage of this natural migration and feed on sardine schools.

The BBC team used helicopter, boat-based and underwater crews to capture the feeding frenzy in extensive detail. This footage helped to reveal more about the way gannets hunt. They don’t simply dive, catching a fish and bringing it back up to the surface, but they ‘arrow’ down to a depth of 10m, then swim a further 20m and finally they charge around like penguins.

It is really incredible how common dolphins and gannets swim centimetres away from sharks, just ignoring these big predators and focusing only on sardines.

Watch the videos at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7921949.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7921854.stm

Silvia Bonizzoni

On the discovery of new species

The discovery of a new mammal species fills us with joy and positive thoughts and we’re curious to see the new ‘arrival’, but most of the time we don’t really think about what this new discovery is teaching us.

In a recent paper, Paul Ehrlich and Gerardo Ceballos, two biologists from Stanford University and Mexico’s National University, respectively, say the assumption that ‘nearly all mammal species are known to science’ is incorrect. They argue that global animal and plant species diversity is badly underestimated, even within well-studied taxa.

"What this paper really talks about is how little we actually know about our natural capital and how little we know about the services that flow from it," said Ehrlich, adding that the diminishment of biodiversity can have very significant impacts on mankind.

"The economy of nature is what allows us to have a human economy. If we let the infrastructure of nature go down the drain, then we just can't make up for it with human infrastructure... It just can't be done."

Watch the interview at: http://news-service.stanford.edu

Silvia Bonizzoni

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For more information:
Ceballos G. & Ehrlich P.R. 2009. Discoveries of new mammal species and their implications for conservation and ecosystem services. PNAS: 0812419106v1-pnas.0812419106. (Abstract only)

http://news-service.stanford.edu

Pink dolphin

A rare albino bottlenose dolphin was sighted in the Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary in Louisiana (USA). The animal is a juvenile, he’s entirely pink in the whole body and has reddish eyes. This strange dolphin, nicknamed 'Pinky', was first spotted late last year and has become such a tourist attraction that conservationists are warning people to leave it alone...

SB

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Foto: Olycom/sipa

For more information:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The depressing life of elephants in captivity

A recent study on elephants in zoos found out something that many of us probably already suspected... these captive animals are at risk of depression and unhappy if kept alone or in small groups.

The important point made by the author Paul Rees is that life in small groups is unnatural for herd animals.

In their ‘normal’ life elephants are used to having many contacts with members of their own species, and this is crucial for the animals to develop normal behaviour patterns and friendships.

If they are forced to stay with just a few other individuals they cannot learn important socials skills such as finding a mate or greeting rituals, and many of them begin showing abnormal behaviour that suggests depression.

This study represents another reason to re-consider the ethical implications of keeping animals in captivity for human amusement.

Silvia Bonizzoni

Photo from: http://animalphotos.info

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For more information:
Rees P.A. 2009. The sizes of elephant groups in zoos: implications for elephant welfare. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 12 (1):44-60. (Abstract only)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/4787398/Elephants

Brave new ocean

If you don't bother to read scientific papers about the present condition of our oceans, you can simply watch the impressive lecture given by Jeremy Jackson at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).

"Brave new ocean"

SB

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Jeremy Jackson is a marine ecologist based at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. In 2003, Jackson and Daniel Pauly co-founded ‘The Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project’ to help promote a wider understanding and use of the term in discussions of general conservation. Shifting Baselines is a sort of partnership between ocean conservation and Hollywood to help bring attention to the severity of ocean decline, to point out that the changes people saw in their 20th-century lifetimes were just small snapshots in a larger picture of environmental decline that has been accelerating for 200 years.

For more information:
http://www.aseachange.net

"Every ecosystem I studied is unrecognizably different from when I started. I have a son who is 30, and I used to take him snorkelling on the reefs in Jamaica to show him all the beautiful corals there. I have a daughter who is 17... I can't show her anything but heaps of seaweed."
-- Jeremy Jackson

Marine photos and videos from NOAA’s library

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has launched the ‘National Marine Sanctuaries Media Library’, a new online multimedia library with public access.

The online library is a comprehensive database containing a collection of thousands high-quality ocean-related photos and videos taken by NOAA scientists, educators, divers and archaeologists.

Thank to an easy search system it is possible to find materials on 13 themes: birds, culture/people, fish, invertebrates, marine mammals, marine reptiles, maritime heritage, media roll, plants, scenic, science/research, ships/vessel/facilities, treats/pressures.

Have a look!

Silvia Bonizzoni

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For more information:
www.noaanews.noaa.gov

The troubled waters of the Amvrakikos Gulf

On February 17th, Tethys researcher Joan Gonzalvo attended a meeting at the city hall of Vonitsa, Greece, organized by the Management Body of the Amvrakikos Wetlands.

This body was established after the creation of the Amvrakikos Gulf National Park on March 21st, 2008. The meeting was attended by local authorities, a research team from the University of Patras, the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), the Development Agency for South Epirus and Amvrakikos (ETANAM), and local fishermen representatives.

The local fishermen proposed Joan’s participation in the event as an independent observer. A series of presentations by the participants reviewed the dramatic problems faced by the Gulf, namely increasing eutrophication and pollution. Especially alarming was the presentation by Prof. Kostas Koutsikopoulos (University of Patras) who studied the oxygen concentration on the sea floor and deep waters of the Gulf. His results show that anoxic conditions are found in waters deeper than 23 m, while twenty years ago such conditions were observed in waters 40 m deep and below. According to professor Koutsikopoulos, today approximately 70% of the Gulf is, in his own words, a dead zone.

Local fishermen did not seem surprised at all about the evidence shown. They have been claiming that the situation of the Amvrakikos Gulf is critical for several years as indicates by steadily decreasing fish captures.

Participants in the meeting acknowledged the uniqueness of the Gulf and its increasing vulnerability to human impact. The authorities promised to react and try to address the problem.

The good news are that the University of Patras, HCMR and ETANAM have manifested their interest in collaborating with Tethys. Such synergy would be important to take advantage of the intensive work done by Tethys since 2002 to document the abundance, movements and trends of bottlenose dolphins that reside year-round in the troubled waters of the Amvrakikos Gulf .

Joan Gonzalvo

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For more information:

Bearzi G., Agazzi S., Bonizzoni S., Costa M., Azzellino A. 2008. Dolphins in a bottle: abundance, residency patterns and conservation of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus in the semi-closed eutrophic Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 18(2):130-146.

Culling whales will not help fisheries

A new paper published on Science, has examined the scientific evidence for the assertion that ‘commercial fisheries are negatively impacted by whales in tropical breeding areas’ and that ‘reducing the number of baleen whales in the oceans would improve fisheries because whales eat fish that are caught for human consumption’.

The study, based on ecosystem models, examines the potential increase in the biomass of commercially important fish stocks that would result from a reduction in whale abundance in the Northwest African and Caribbean ecosystems.

Researchers have demonstrated that even a complete eradication of whale populations in tropical waters would not lead to any considerable increase in fish populations. “Our models unequivocally show that removing whales would not significantly increase the amount of commercially valuable fish,” said Leah Gerber, one of the authors, “Instead, we found that fishing is having a far greater bearing on the health of the fish stocks in the region...”

Daniel Pauly, a well-known fishery scientist and co-author of this paper, added “The assertion that fish supply is in peril is legitimate, but the problem is resolved with better management, not whaling”.

SB

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Gerber L.R., Morissette L., Kaschner K., Pauly D. 2009. Should whales be culled to increase fishery yield? Science 323: 880-881.

For more information:
www.lenfestocean.org

Narwhals migration filmed

For the first time, spectacular aerial footage captured by the BBC shows elusive narwhal during their annual migration north from the west coast of Greenland to their summer feeding grounds in the fjords and bays beyond Lancaster Sound (Canada).

The cetaceans have been filmed from a helicopter. They were swimming in groups of 20 or 30, in perfect unison as they surface for air.

SB

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The BBC video

For more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Mothers' jobs

Two papers on cetacean mothers have been recently published.

One investigated the role of menopause and reproductive senescence in a long-lived social mammal such as killer whales. The study reports that older mothers appear to be better mothers, producing calves with higher survival rates, than younger less-experienced moms.

"Older females may be more successful in raising young because of maternal experience, or they may allocate more effort to their offspring relative to younger females", researchers said.

This result is consistent with similar studies of other mammals; the presence of grandmothers may positively influence survival of juveniles at a critical life stage. The study also confirmed that menopause and long post-reproductive lifespans are not prerogatives of humans.

The other study focused on the whale mothers who teach their babies where to eat. Thanks to genetic and chemical analyses, researchers show that the right whale teach to their calves the location of feeding grounds during a long migration through the South Atlantic Ocean.

Researchers are now linking this result to the ocean present situation and they are raising concern about whales ability to find new places to feed if climate change is disrupting their traditional feeding areas.

SB

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Photo:
Southern Right whale and calf, by Genevieve Johnson (earthOcean)

For more information:
Ward E.J., Parsons K., Holmes E.E., Balcomb K.C., Ford J.K.B. 2009. The role of menopause and reproductive senescence in a long-lived social mammal. Frontiers in Zoology 6: 4. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-6-4

‘Mother whales teach babies where to eat: can Southern right whales adapt if food becomes scarce?’

Tilen Genov contributes to Tethys research in the Gulf of Corinth

A 'special' researcher is going to join the Ionian Dolphin Project team next spring: Tilen Genov, President of Morigenos.

When he was about 8, Tilen had been the first adopter of a bottlenose dolphin in the context of a campaign launched to support research by Tethys around Losinj, Croatia. Since then he has been a frequent guest at the Losinj field station, initially with Tethys and then with BlueWorld.

Having learned much through contact with researchers and direct observation, Tilen eventally created his own organization in Slovenia and started doing dolphin research with his team.

Tilen just published a paper summarizing his findings on bottlenose dolphins along the Slovenian and adjacent coasts.

Tilen will work with Tethys researchers in the context of "Delphi's Dolphins", the new dolphin research and conservation project in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece.

Giovanni Bearzi

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Morigenos, together with Tethys and various other cetacean research and conservation NGOs, is member of the Cetacean Alliance.

Maiacetus inuus: il 'nuovo' antenato dei cetacei

Confermata l’ipotesi che i più antichi antenati dei cetacei attuali avessero origini terrestri.

In Pakistan sono stati rinvenuti i resti di un nuovo Protocetide, il Maiacetus inuus, un animale vissuto 49-37 milioni di anni fa che conduceva una vita semiacquatica. Gli scheletri appartengono a una femmina lunga 2,6 metri con il suo feto e a un altro esemplare maschio leggermente più lungo.

Di particolare interesse è la posizione del feto nel corpo della madre. Il piccolo, quasi pronto per nascere, è in posizione cefalica e ciò differisce dagli attuali cetacei che invece si presentano ‘di coda’. Secondo i ricercatori questo suggerisce che il M. inuus, non essendo ancora completamente adattato alla vita acquatica, fosse costretto a partorire a terra. Questa caratteristica è coerente con la morfologia scheletrica, che consentiva all'animale di sostenere il suo peso sulla terra. Precedenti teorie sull’appartenenza dei Protocetidi al mondo anfibio vengono quindi scalzate dalla recente scoperta.

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Presidente onorario di Tethys, intervistato dal Corriere della Sera, ha commentato così la notizia: “Conosciamo così poco sulla storia evolutiva dei cetacei che la scoperta di un fossile di cetaceo con il feto è straordinaria, unica. La nascita è un momento drammatico nella vita dei cetacei attuali, perché partoriscono nell’acqua un piccolo che respira aria. E’ stato un giro di boa importante nella loro evoluzione. Questa scoperta è come una finestra aperta su uno stadio intermedio delle modalità di riproduzione. E’ come il fotogramma di un film”.

Silvia Bonizzoni

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Immagine: Scheletro di una femmina adulta di Maiacetus inuus (ossa rosa) e del suo feto (ossa azzurre)

Gingerich P.D., ul-Haq M., von Koenigswald W., Sanders W.J., Smith B.H., Zalmout I.S. 2009. New Protocetid whale from the Middle Eocene of Pakistan: birth on land, precocial development, and sexual dimorphism. PLoS ONE 4(2): e4366.

ABSTRACT: Protocetidae are middle Eocene (49-37 Ma) archaeocete predators ancestral to later whales. They are found in marine sedimentary rocks, but retain four legs and were not yet fully aquatic. Protocetids have been interpreted as amphibious, feeding in the sea but returning to land to rest. Two adult skeletons of a new 2.6 meter long protocetid, Maiacetus inuus, are described from the early middle Eocene Habib Rahi Formation of Pakistan. M. inuus differs from contemporary archaic whales in having a fused mandibular symphysis, distinctive astragalus bones in the ankle, and a less hind-limb dominated postcranial skeleton. One adult skeleton is female and bears the skull and partial skeleton of a single large near-term fetus. The fetal skeleton is positioned for head-first delivery, which typifies land mammals but not extant whales, evidence that birth took place on land. The fetal skeleton has permanent first molars well mineralized, which indicates precocial development at birth. Precocial development, with attendant size and mobility, were as critical for survival of a neonate at the land-sea interface in the Eocene as they are today. The second adult skeleton is the most complete known for a protocetid. The vertebral column, preserved in articulation, has 7 cervicals, 13 thoracics, 6 lumbars, 4 sacrals, and 21 caudals. All four limbs are preserved with hands and feet. This adult is 12% larger in linear dimensions than the female skeleton, on average, has canine teeth that are 20% larger, and is interpreted as male. Moderate sexual dimorphism indicates limited male-male competition during breeding, which in turn suggests little aggregation of food or shelter in the environment inhabited by protocetids. Discovery of a near-term fetus positioned for head-first delivery provides important evidence that early protocetid whales gave birth on land. This is consistent with skeletal morphology enabling Maiacetus to support its weight on land and corroborates previous ideas that protocetids were amphibious. Specimens this complete are virtual ‘Rosetta stones’ providing insight into functional capabilities and life history of extinct animals that cannot be gained any other way.

Per maggiori informazioni:
http://www.corriere.it/scienze_e_tecnologie
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evoluzione_dei_cetacei

The so-called ‘scientific whaling’

In the recent paper ‘Reconsidering the science of scientific whaling’ Peter Corkeron, a renowned cetologist, reviewed the data obtained in the last years by Japanese scientific whaling research.

From a scientific standpoint, Corkeron analyzed every single aspects of this lethal research, and provided evidence on why this technique is useless, simplistic, unsophisticated and problematic.

SB

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Corkeron P.J. 2009. Reconsidering the science of scientific whaling. Marine Ecology Progress Series 375: 305-309.

ABSTRACT: Scientific whaling is one of the most publicly contentious applications of marine ecological research today. An evaluation of the second phase of Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) program in the western North Pacific (JARPN II) is soon to be conducted under the auspices of the Scientific Committee (SC) of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Previous IWC SC reviews identified serious problems with the programs, yet reached inconsequential conclusions, and the JARPN II review is the first under a new format. The basic design of this study - forestomach sampling coupled with acoustic and trawl surveys for prey - is an unsophisticated approach to investigating the foraging ecology of Balaenoptera spp. Published results of the JARPN II feasibility study demonstrate problems with the execution of field work. Data analyses were simplistic. Non-lethal studies into the foraging ecology of Balaenoptera spp., using far fewer resources, have produced more definitive information. The recent changes in the IWC SC review process should result in unambiguous advice on how to improve the design of JARPN II. If the review recommends improvements that are not acted upon by the program's proponents, the IWC may need to decide whether the JARPN II program can be considered to be scientific research under Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.

The proper way to eat a cuttlefish

A new study on dolphins registered elaborate and complex feeding behaviour to turn a cuttlefish into a soft, chewy snack.

In the Upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia, researchers observed and recorded a wild female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) repeatedly catching, killing and preparing cuttlefish for consumption using a specific and ordered sequence of behaviours.

Cuttlefish were herded to a sand substrate, pinned to the seafloor, killed by downward thrust, raised mid-water and beaten by the dolphin with its snout until the ink was released and drained. The deceased cuttlefish was then returned to the seafloor, inverted and forced along the sand substrate in order to strip the thin dorsal layer of skin off the mantle, thus releasing the buoyant calcareous cuttlebone.

As the researchers said ‘this behaviour is a dramatic example of how dolphins, with their relatively unspecialised morphology, can utilise behavioural flexibility to tackle prey items that require substantial handling before consumption...’

Silvia Bonizzoni

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Drawing:
Stages of prey handling of giant cuttlefish (Sepia apama) by Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin

For more information:
Finn J., Tregenza T., Norman M. 2009. Preparing the perfect cuttlefish meal: complex prey handling by dolphins. PLoS ONE 4(1):e4217.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature