So much is being lost due to climate change, one can feel deranged. But the world still hums with beauty and astonishment – there is much for us to save.
Dolphins can communicate very effectively.
Arielle Allouche/Unsplash
Researchers are finding alarming concentrations of persistent pollutants such as PFAS in Australian dolphins. These record-breaking levels are cause for concern.
“Traffic jams” of boats and floating houses on the dry bed of Lake Puraquequara, in the outskirts of Manaus: a combination of climate change, a strong El Niño and insistence on works with a huge environmental impact contribute to an unprecedented and extremely urgent condition in the region.
AP Photo/Edmar Barros
A combination of climate change, a strong El Niño and an insistence on works of enormous impact are contributing to an unprecedented and extremely urgent situation in the region
Humpback whale breach at Ningaloo.
Image: Kate Sprogis
The multi-billion-dollar whale-watching industry enables millions of people to see these magnificent creatures up close. But the noise made by so many boats is a threat to whales’ wellbeing.
Drones have allowed researchers to learn more about marine mammals.
(Jaclyn Aubin / GREMM)
Drones are a new technology that help researchers observe and record whale behaviours from a distance. But if the drones are flown too low, they change the whales’ behaviour.
A pod of dolphins surfacing next a boat in the Gulf of Mexico.
Erik S. Lesser/EPA
To fish the oceans sustainably, nations must reduce bycatch, or accidental catches. But fishermen often resist changing gear or techniques that kill nontargeted species.
Swimming and surfing in the ocean is fun and invigorating. But sharing the water with animals comes with risks to us and them.
A large group of yellowfin tuna swimming off the coast of Italy. Like all fish, they sleep, but it’s not like human sleep.
Giordano Cipriani/The Image Bank via Getty Images
Using urine and signature whistles from other dolphins, a team of scientists has shown that dolphins use signature whistles like names and hold mental representations of other dolphins in their minds.
Hawksbill turtle.
Photo by Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via GettyImages
North American red squirrels produce a range of sounds, but their distinctive rattle call may have more to do with identifying themselves than warning off other squirrels.
Māui dolphins are at risk of extinction. With a marine mammal sanctuary in place since 2008, the risk from fisheries is now largely under control. It’s time to take other threats more seriously.
Vera Weisbecker, Flinders University and Jeroen Smaers, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)
Some animals, such as California sea lions, have small brains relative to their body size, but are still impressively intelligent, showing brain evolution is even more complex than it appears.