We tend to think of the oceans as quiet, when in fact they’re anything but. Noise is the “forgotten pollutant”, but the good news is that unlike many other pollutants it can be switched off if we try.
Humpback whales have been spotted fending off killer whales from attacking other species. But this kind of interspecies altruism raises an evolutionary conundrum.
Globally, a quarter of whale and dolphin species are endangered. Though South African dolphin populations are generally in good heath, the humpback dolphin is cause for concern.
Antarctica’s blue whales all feed in the same place. But a new genetic analysis suggests they are actually three separate populations that breed in different parts of the globe.
Chalk it up as a rare conservation win: humpback whales have bounced back so strongly since the whaling era that there is no longer a need to include them on Australia’s official threatened species list.
The Great Barrier Reef is home to some 1,600 species of bony fish, 130 sharks and rays, and turtles, mammals and more. Most have had no population monitoring, meaning we don’t know how well they are faring.
Dead whales can cost beachside ratepayers a lot to clean up. The alternative is to tow them away before they wash up - but the legal question of who does the job is far more complex than it sounds.