Tuesday, 6 August 2013

2013-08-05

ConceptMERCURY1 Project by Thor Mercury

Aug 4, 2013

photos: 9

ConceptMERCURY1 Project by Thor Mercury

Mystery dolphin deaths: Experts investigate unusually high number of bottle-nosed dolphins found washed up on East Coast beaches | Mail Online

Mystery dolphin deaths: Experts investigate unusually high number of bottle-nosed dolphins found washed up on East Coast beaches

21 dead dolphins have washed up in New Jersey since June up from the usual 12
More than 120 bottle-nosed dolphins have been found dead or dying on East Coast beaches since June
Marine experts are investigating the deaths but haven't yet found the answer

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 23:04, 2 August 2013 | UPDATED: 23:05, 2 August 2013

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An unusually high number of dolphins have been found washed up on East Coast beaches this summer.

From New Jersey to Virginia, more than 120 bottle-nosed dolphins have been found dead or dying on beaches since June.

The bodies are sent to the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School for necropsy, or animal autopsy, but so far the answer to what's causing the deaths has eluded experts.

Mysterious: Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team members carry a deceased male dolphin on a metal stretcher from Ocean View Beach in Norfolk August 1, 2013 - their third dolphin retrieval of the day

High toll: Danielle Monaghan, Field Stranding Technician, examines a dolphin that washed ashore in Margate Thursday morning, at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, New Jersey

The number of dolphins brought in for testing - an average of two a day - is hindering experts from getting closer to an answer, said Bob Schoelkopf, founding director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

'Every year we have dolphin deaths,' Schoelkopf told Philly.com. 'We won't speculate on a cause until the lab results come back.'

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Sunday, 4 August 2013

About Us | SaveJapanDolphins.org

About Us

SaveJapanDolphins.org

Ric O'Barry is the director of SaveJapanDolphins.org, a campaign conducted by the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute. SaveJapanDolphins.org was formed to put an end to the Japanese drive fishery slaughter of dolphins and stop the capture and live trade of dolphins to zoos and aquariums around the world.

The work of Ric and the Save Japan Dolphins team was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary The Coveas well as in Animal Planet Channel's Blood Dolphin$ series.
Save Japan Dolphins is active in creating worldwide pressure against the Japanese dolphin slaughter, generating petitions with more than 2 million signatures from 151 countries. The team is also involved in investigations and monitoring at the Cove and in exposing the toxic mercury in Japanese dolphin meat products.

EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE

Save Japan Dolphins is a proud part of the Earth Island Institute, a non-profit, tax deductible organization founded in 1982. The Earth Island Institute has a long and active history in dolphin-related causes. In 1986, through the International Marine Mammal Project, EII organized a campaign to urge U.S. tuna companies to end the practice of intentionally chasing and netting dolphins with purse seine nets, and to adopt "Dolphin Safe" fishing practices to prevent the drowning of dolphins in tuna nets. This campaign included a consumer pressure, litigation, and revisions of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. In 1990 a major breakthrough was achieved and the first companies pledged to become dolphin-safe. Today 100% of American tuna have become verifiably dolphin safe. Through the International Monitoring Program, the Earth Island Institute regularly inspects tuna companies to insure consumers that the tuna they buy is truly "dolphin safe."

Earth Island Institute is an umbrella organization with has more than 60 projects working for the conservation, preservation, and restoration of the Earth. For more information, please visit: www.earthisland.org

THE SAVE JAPAN DOLPHINS/ INTERNATIONAL MARINE MAMMAL PROJECT TEAM:

Ric O’Barry – Campaign Director, Save Japan Dolphins

Marine mammal specialist and Earth Island Institute staffmember Richard (Ric) O'Barry has worked with dolphins for the vast majority of his life. He spent the first 10 years of his career in the dolphin captivity industry and the past 38 years fighting against it. Most recently, Ric's biopic, The Cove, won an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary in 2010.

Working for Miami Seaquarium in the 1960s, Ric was responsible for capturing and training dolphins, including five dolphins who played the role of Flipper in the popular American television series of the same name. When one of the famed dolphins, Cathy, died suddenly in his arms, Ric decided that taking dolphins out of their natural habitat and training them to perform tricks is wrong.

Shark Week 2013 brings new sharks and live talk shows | Human World | EarthSky

Shark Week 2013 brings new sharks and live talk shows | Human World | EarthSky By Shireen Gonzaga in

HUMAN WORLD on Aug 04, 2013

Shark Week 2013 begins today

Shark Week!

Shark stories, tweets, a Google hangout, comedy talk shows – and why it’s a bad week for a seal named Snuffy – in Discovery’s 26th annual Shark Week, starting August 4.

The Discovery Channel’s 26th annual Shark Week begins on Sunday August 4, 2013 in the U.S., with almost round-the-clock documentaries about sharks, including 11 hours of new material. Among the highlights will be a provocative documentary about the extinct giant shark megalodon possibly still lurking the oceans, freshwater bull sharks near New Orleans, a revised top ten sharkdown of the most dangerous shark species, and a look at extremely rare deep sea sharks. Discovery is also introducing a new feature to Shark Week, a live talk show hosted by comedian Josh Wolf called Shark After Dark.

Did the Discovery Channel pay me to write this? No. I just like sharks! And so do a lot of other people. Sharks are a pop culture sensation. With body and behavior crafted by millions of years of evolution to emerge as the apex predators of the ocean, sharks are often regarded as quintessential killing machines. Perhaps that’s why people seem to have a visceral reaction to sharks, whether it’s deep fascination, profound awe, or sheer terror. For me, I guess, it’s a bit of all three. For many, sharks capture our imagination like no other creature.

Shark Week! Starts August 4, 2013 on the Discovery Channel.

Megalodon with the whale shark (purple, 9.7m), great white shark (green, 5.2 m), and a human for scale (Great White Shark, 5.2m), Rhincodon typus (Whale Shark, 9.7m) and conservative/maximum estimates of the largest known adult size of Carcharodon megalodon (16-20m), with a human Homo sapiens (1.8m).

Estimates for size range of extinct giant shark megalodon (grey and red) with the whale shark (purple), great white shark (green), and a human for scale.

Lowest thunderstorm in North America | Today's Image | EarthSky

Lowest thunderstorm in North America

Thunderstorms in the desert are beautiful. Chris Tinker captured this one at North America’s lowest point in elevation, Badwater Basin in Death Valley.

Photo taken by Chris Tinker on July 6, 2013 at Badwater Basin in Death Valley.

Chris Tinker, an EarthSky friend on Facebook, wrote:

The lowest thunderstorm in North America! Caught a thunderstorm at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley. At 282 feet below sea level, it’s noted as the lowest point in North America. Shot July 6, 2013 – 7:12 a.m.

Death Valley’s Badwater Basin is indeed North America’s point of the lowest elevation. Interestingly, it’s just 84.6 miles (136.2 km) east-southeast of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). Located in eastern California in the Mojave Desert, Death Valley itself is the lowest, hottest and driest part of North America.

Thank you, Chris!

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