The Gulf serves as a breeding ground for many animals, some of them endangered. Scientists are concerned for those who may not escape this great disaster intact and want to study the effect it is going to have on their health, populations and the future of their species.
And for those who were concerned, there was good news today,
Victory for Sea Turtles in Gulf - Burning Stopped via the Center for Biological Diversity!
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I'm happy to report that there's finally a glimmer of good news for wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico.
Today, in response to heavy public criticism and facing a lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity and our partners, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard backed down and agreed to stop letting endangered sea turtles be burned alive during surface-oil cleanup operations.
This is a major stride in protecting these important, rare animals, including the highly endangered Kemp's ridley -- already under assault from the millions of gallons of toxic oil gushing into its marine and coastal environment.
Today's big announcement came just moments before a court hearing in New Orleans on our lawsuit brought with Turtle Island Restoration Network, Animal Welfare Institute and Animal Legal Defense Team. We're being represented in the suit by Meyer Gliztenstein & Crystal of Washington, D.C. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order on oil-burning activities.
And it comes after your support earlier this week when we turned the public spotlight on BP by hand-delivering tens of thousands of petition signatures to the oil company, calling for an end to this gruesome practice. It means so much to be able to count on you when it's needed most for the imperiled plants, animals and wild spaces we work to protect. Thank you.
But it's not over yet. We'll need your continued help in supporting efforts to hold BP and the government accountable -- not only to safeguard sea turtles but to ensure that this mess is properly cleaned up and that a similar offshore drilling disaster never happens again.
Thanks again for your help in protecting endangered sea turtles in the Gulf, and I hope you share in this victory as you head into the holiday weekend.
It is a huge victory! Speaking out, spreading the word and making some noise has made sure that no endangered turtles needless suffer on top of the already horrific tragedy that's continuing to unfold in the Gulf.
There is no reason why vets, and others cannot rescue these turtles before they light the oil on fire, (in of itself a questionable practice). But we know that the oil is doing such horrific harm, and it just keeps spewing into the Gulf.
As for the study, it's important to understand what kind of effect the oil is having on endangered whale species, such as the sperm whale.
NOAA ship Gordon Gunter will depart today to continue its mission to evaluate the effects of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill on whales and dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico, including the endangered sperm whale.
This project includes leading researchers from Cornell University, Oregon State University, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who will work with NOAA scientists to monitor the distributions and movements of whales over the next several months.
Twenty-one species of marine mammals call the deep waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico home, including the endangered sperm whale and a small, isolated population of baleen whales called Bryde’s (pronounced BRU-des) whales. Scientists will use a variety of tools during the mission to document how these species respond as oil comes into their habitats.
We're learning more and more about how these amazing animals communicate and how they have social lives that we've been previously unaware of. What else don't we know about?
Lets hope we can keep from losing these amazing whales, they are very social and talkative :)
Researchers identified subtle variations caused by differences in the shape of individual whales’ heads. It’s the first time that sperm whale vocalizations have been linked to specific individuals.
“This is the just the first step in answering a lot of questions about their vocal and social complexity,” said Shane Gero, a Dalhousie University biologist. “It’s the first time that we’re getting to the level of knowing these animals as individuals, as families — as personalities, really. It’s a whole new step.
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“The whales communicate by patterns of clicks. The clicks reverberate in the head. If you listen to it carefully, there are these pulses. The time between pulses reflects the time it takes for sounds to reverberate, to go from one end of the head and back. Because the heads are all different length, they have different reverberation times,” study co-author Hal Whitehead, also a Dalhousie University biologist. Until now, “just figuring out who makes which sound underwater was tough,” he said.
Analysis of the whales’ vocalizations are still in their early stages, but the results are already intriguing. While the whales tended to possess the same basic repertoire of “codas” — the technical name for each distinctive series of clicks — one female had a completely different set. She happened to be a mother. The distinctive sounds could be what she used to communicate with her calf.
Apart from the mom, the researchers found that half of each individuals’ vocalizations followed one of two patterns.
One pattern is formed by two consecutive, slowly-paced clicks, followed by three faster clicks. It has been found only in the Caribbean. While the pattern varies slightly between groups, this study suggests that it’s consistent within the group. According to Gero, it could function as a family identifier, letting other whales know who is around. “It says, I belong to this family, I belong to this vocal clan,” he said.
Read More http://www.wired.com/...
I hope we can save these beautiful creatures before we lose them all.