Whales

Category

Whales threatened by …… us!

  World Whale Day, the annual calendar celebrated on the third Sunday in February  (February 18), seeks to appreciate these amazing marine creatures that are an important part of the ecosystem. Once upon a time, we could just enjoy these creatures for their majesty – species that visit Moreton Bay Marine Park include the mighty Humpback (migrating to and from their southern feeding grounds between June and October),  eight species of dolphin including the bottlenose and the Australian Humpback dolphin – now the day ‘must’ goes beyond that,...

Whale stranding… what to do, what not to do

WILDLIFE hit the front page of THE PRESS today – sadly, it was because a sperm  whale stranded over the weekend at South New Brighton beach, Christchurch. A sperm whale has died after becoming stranded at a Christchurch beach overnight, according to environmental organisation Project Jonah. The whale was reported stranded just after 5pm on Saturday on South New Brighton Beach, with a volunteer medic onsite within six minutes. Do’s & Don’ts at a stranding Do Keep the animal cool...

Marine Mammals | Whale hearing tested off Qld coast, Australia

They are the hulking giants of the sea, able to send their songs thousands of kilometres under the waves, but researchers still have little idea of how much whales can hear — and they are determined to find out. Scientists from the University of Queensland have spent the past two whale migration seasons armed with a long pole, which they use to stick a small sucker-covered box to the side of humpbacks as they pass the coastline south of Noosa. Associate Professor Rebecca Dunlop...

Monitoring whales from space

Scientists have found that studying high-resolution images of whales from space is a feasible way to estimate their populations.A team, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), compared satellite images to data collected from traditional ship-based surveys. Reported this week in the journal Scientific Reports, this study is a big step towards developing a cost-effective method to study whales in remote and inaccessible places, that will help scientists to monitor population changes and understand their behaviour. The results show that satellite-estimated...

Whale mother & calf

Brisbane underwater photographer Jasmine Carey has won the grand prize in the Hamdan International Photography award with her image of a humpback whale and its two-week old calf off the coast of Tonga. (Source : The Guardian ) Brisbane underwater photographer Jasmine Carey describes here how she captured the shot…. “I grabbed my 5D Mark IV camera, which is encased in waterproof housing and slipped off a small tour boat into the waters of the Vavaʻu Islands in Tonga. Small...