Latest news with #marineMammals
BBC News
27-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Portstewart Strand: Dead minke whale removed from County Londonderry beach
A dead minke whale has been removed from Portstewart Strand in County Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said the whale washed up on the beach on Sunday National Trust said it worked with a range of agencies and marine mammal experts to follow protocol, removing and disposing of the whale on Tuesday afternoon. "It was important the removal happened as quickly as possible as decaying marine mammals pose a serious health risk," a spokesperson added. Laurence Ghisoiu, senior visitor experience officer for the National Trust, told BBC News NI the last time a whale was beached on Portstewart Strand was in then, it was taken to landfill. While minke whales are known to be among the smallest, they can grow to about 35 ft (10m) and weigh up to 20,000 lb (9,000 kg).The species can usually be seen between July and October in UK waters and live for up to 50 can come ashore for many reasons, including injury, illness, bad weather and navigational errors leading them into shallow water.
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Portstewart: Dead minke whale washed up on beach
A minke whale has beached and died at Portstewart Strand in County Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) said it happened on Sunday evening.A spokesperson from the department said officials had been in touch with the National Trust and that assessments would be made on National Trust has asked the public to keep a distance from the carcass while it works with other agencies and experts "to determine next steps". "Until this process is safely complete, we urge the public to continue to follow all signage and keep a safe distance," a spokeswoman walkers are being asked to keep their pets on a lead and under control if walking on the National Trust spokeswoman added: "Decaying marine mammals pose a serious health risk. They can carry a range of diseases that are transmissible to humans and dogs."While minke whales are known to be among the smallest, they can grow to about 35 feet (10m) and weigh up to 20,000 pounds (9,000 kg).The species can usually be seen between July and October in UK waters and live for up to 50 can come ashore for many reasons, including injury, illness, bad weather and navigational errors leading them into shallow water.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Science
- RNZ News
Our Changing World: Dissecting the world's rarest whale
It's only the seventh time a spade-toothed whale has been documented worldwide, and the first time a complete specimen has been recovered in good condition for examination. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Follow Our Changing World on Apple , Spotify , iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts The spade-toothed whale: deep diving, rare, and largely unknown to science - until now. The elusive species, part of the beaked whale family, grabbed worldwide headlines in 2024: first when it washed ashore 30 minutes south of Dunedin in July, then again five months later when it was dissected . In December 2024, Our Changing World joined the research team during their week-long scientific dissection efforts to find out what secrets the whale holds. Beaked whales are some of the most elusive marine mammals on the planet because they are so incredibly well adapted to their long-deep-diving lifestyle. Satellite tagging studies of Cuvier's (or goose-beaked) whales have revealed extraordinary feats of physiology. This includes one dive that lasted a mindboggling 222 minutes - that's longer than the runtime of The Return of the King , the third (and longest) Lord of the Rings movie. Cuvier's beaked whales are renowned for their deep and long dives, stretching for more than three hours. Photo: Laurent Bouveret / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Another dive reached a depth of almost three kilometres. Average dives lasted about one hour - impressive breath-holding for an air-breathing mammal. As for the spade-toothed whale's diving prowess - well, nobody knows. It's never been seen alive in the wild. Anton van Helden helped give the whale its common name - spade-toothed - because the single tusk-like tooth erupting from the lower jaw of males looks like a whaling tool called a spade. DOC rangers assess a washed up whale, thought to be a spade-toothed whale, on the beach at Taieri Mouth. Photo: Supplied/Department of Conservation Anton, senior science advisor in the marine species team at the Department of Conservation, had described the outer appearance of the whale from photographs taken of a mother and calf that washed up in the Bay of Plenty in 2010. They were originally mis-identified and buried, before DNA analysis confirmed that they were spade-toothed whales, after which their partial skeletons were exhumed. This meant that when Anton was sent some snaps of the whale that washed up in Otago in July 2024 he knew exactly what he was looking at, and what a rare find it was. The 2024 specimen is only the seventh ever found (with all but one from New Zealand). Spade-toothed Whale Photo: Ōnumia CC BY 4.0 DOC Hence the hum of excitement in the concrete room at AgResearch's Invermay campus in Mosgiel, just south of Dunedin. For the first time ever, scientists got the chance to dissect an intact spade-toothed whale. The week begins with photographs and whole-body measurements, followed by cutting into and peeling back the thick layer of blubber. Scientists are starting the examination in Mosgiel, which is expected to take several days. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Once the blubber is removed, individual muscles are identified and documented. The massive backstrap muscle across the length of the body is then removed, exposing the organs below. These are photographed, examined and weighed. Each beaked whale species seems to have a unique stomach plan. This dissection revealed that the spade-toothed whale has nine stomachs. Squid beaks and eye lenses were found inside, along with some parasites that are now at the University of Otago, awaiting identification. During the week the intact head was removed and brought to the onsite CT scanner. The tens of thousands of images that come out of the scan, along with the subsequent head dissection, will help the researchers dig into some of the many questions they have around the whale's evolution, how they make and use sound, and how they feed. The whale head is lifted into the CT scanner. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ For example, tiny vestigial teeth were found in the jawbone of this whale - a throwback to their early evolutionary days when they had more teeth. Now they have evolved to be suction feeders, using sound to echolocate their prey and then employing their piston-like tongue to alter the water pressure and suck them in. While the focus was scientific dissection, rather than autopsy, the team did find bruising around the neck and head, and a broken jawbone, indicating that the whale had suffered some head trauma that was likely the cause of death. A large team participated in the whale's recovery and dissection: Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou hapū members and rangatahi, staff from Tūhura Otago Museum, local and international whale scientists, University of Otago staff and scientists, Māori whale experts (tohunga), and staff from the Department of Conservation. With the blubber removed, the team start investigating the muscles below. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ Experts from both knowledge systems - mātauranga Māori and western science - worked alongside each other, with learning going both ways, says Tumai Cassidy from Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou. He was excited to learn from Ngātiwai tohunga Hori Parata and his son Te Kaurinui who answered Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou's call to assist with the dissection. The whale was named Ōnumia by the rūnanga, after the te reo Māori name for the native reserve stretch of coastline it was found on. The whale's skeleton has been gifted to Tūhura Otago Museum, but it will be a while before it will go on display. Right now, the bones are in Lyttelton in the care of Judith Streat. Three months in bacteria-filled baths have stripped the bones of flesh, but there is a lot of oil in deep-diving whales, so the process will take several more years. Tumai Cassidy from Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou says the whale was found on their native reserve land on the Taieri. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton The kauae, or jawbone, will stay with Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, says Rachel Wesley. "Being able to claim the kauae, you know, as mana whenua, under our rakatirataka and in line with old practices from the past has been a huge step forward from what our hapū has been able to do in the past." A 3D-printed version of the jawbone will complete the skeleton in the museum. Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
CBS News
19-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Video showing orcas circling in algae-infested pool sparks worldwide concern for their fate
A video posted online of two orcas circling in an algae-infested pool in southern France has brought a fresh wave of worldwide concern for cetaceans, Wikie, 24, and her 11-year-old calf Keijo. France has been struggling to find a new home for mother and son after their owner, a marine park on the French Riviera, closed down over a law banning shows featuring marine mammals. Founded in the city of Antibes in 1970, Marineland closed to the public in January following a drop in attendance and the 2021 law. In February, the park's management submitted a request to urgently transfer the two orcas, also known as killer whales, and 12 dolphins to two parks in Spain, but the move was blocked by Spanish authorities saying the facilities were adapted for them. "The situation at Marineland Antibes is an emergency," said Canada-based NGO TideBreakers in a social media post after publishing the video. Here is Tidebreakers' official statement about the situation of 2 orcas and 12 dolphins remaining in a shut down Marineland Antibes. — TideBreakers (@tide_breakers) May 18, 2025 "Leaving them in a shut-down facility, confined to a crumbling, decrepit tank, is simply not an option," it said. Should the two orcas fall ill, they "will likely be euthanized or succumb to the deteriorating environment," the group warned. The video, shot by drone early this month, shows the two orcas and dolphins in tanks the edges of which are green with algae, amid installations previously used for other marine animals in brackish water. Contacted by AFP, the park management said that the orca and dolphin pools remained well-maintained and that about 50 employees were still working for the animals' well-being. The algae visible in the images were a normal phenomenon, it said, explaining that algae pores present in the filtered seawater that fills the pools develop each spring as the water warms up. They were not harmful to the animals and were regularly removed by brushing, management said. This explanation was backed up by Mike Riddell, who managed the park for 26 years before being dismissed in an ownership change in 2006. AFP pictures taken in May 2020 during a press visit showed similar fine algae covering the edges of the pool. But the TideBreakers footage prompted strong reactions, which, according to the park's management, even included death threats against staff. Officials said they share the NGO's concerns, but the park's attempts to find an emergency solution with the staff of France's environment minister, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, have come to nothing. Contacted by AFP, ministry officials said authorities were "ensuring that the animals continue to be housed under good conditions, pending their future destination," and that the park was seeking "alternative solutions" moving forward. "The only option left" Animal rights groups want the orcas to be rehomed in a whale sanctuary where they will have more space to swim and will not be forced to breed or perform in shows, the BBC previously reported. Lori Marino, president of the Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP), said their site in Nova Scotia is "the only option left," the BBC reported. Her group is bidding to rehome the orcas in the eastern Canadian province despite a previous offer being rejected by the French ministry for ecology earlier this year. A petition is urging the French government to send Wikie and Keijo to the coastal refuge in Nova Scotia, and last October, three environmental icons – Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Sylvia Earle, and Jean-Michel Cousteau – signed a letter recommending that the orcas be relocated to the sea sanctuary. An aerial view of the now-closed Hotel Marineland in Antibes, France on February 15, 2025. The park, which closed permanently on January 5, was the subject of protests by activists against the transfer of orcas Wikie and Keijo. Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/Anadolu via Getty Images Following the Spanish ban decision, Marineland had hoped to transfer the orcas to a park in Japan. But the move was blocked by the French government, which demanded a transfer to a European park with higher welfare standards. However, a solution involving the only such facility, in Tenerife, Spain, was vetoed last month by the Spanish government, which said the facilities there "did not meet the requirements," according to French officials. NGOs, including One Voice and Sea Shepherd, have requested permission to send specialists to Marineland to check on the orcas. Born in captivity, the two mammals are unable to survive alone. The longer-term solution, the French ministry and NGOs agree, should see the establishment of a marine sanctuary where orcas and dolphins could be cared for in semi-wild conditions. Such a solution would cost $2.2-3.3 million per year, according to Riddell. It is estimated that Wikie and Keijo still have decades to live, under adequate conditions.
Associated Press
07-05-2025
- Associated Press
Baby seal stabbed on Oregon coast prompts search for suspect
NESKOWIN, Ore. (AP) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is searching for the person who stabbed a baby seal multiple times on a beach in Oregon. The seal survived the March attack in a cove in the small town of Neskowin, which sits along the Pacific Ocean, NOAA said Monday. The administration's marine stranding team was able to help the animal relocate after monitoring and evaluating it. The agency's law enforcement office, which is investigating the attack, was searching for a 'person of interest' spotted by a witness. Officials were also looking for the owner of a vehicle seen in a parking lot near the cove behind a condominium building that may be connected with the Sunday evening attack, according to NOAA. Officials are asking anyone with information on the person of interest, vehicle owner or attack to call NOAA's enforcement hotline. In the spring and summer, juvenile elephant seals will often drag themselves onto Oregon's beaches to spend weeks shedding their hair and skin, according to Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute. Adult elephant seals are rarely seen in the state. The federal Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits harassing, harming, killing or feeding wild elephant seals and other marine mammals. Violators can face criminal penalties of up to $100,000 in fines and up to 1 year in jail.
