Ah puberty, those awkward years on the road to sexual maturity. It’s not clear if whales and dolphins must also suffer the dramatic ups and downs of the human teenager, but some do have to suffer big differences between the sexes when it comes to the actually timing of sexual maturity. In several posts we’ve… [read more]
Archives for April 2010
Whales and dolphins have big babies
For those of you with your legs still crossed after reading the average gestation time for whales and dolphins, I now present you with one more reason to really think twice about ocean living. It turns out at birth that many whales and dolphins enter the world already quite large. Here’s the low down straight… [read more]
Whale and dolphin life histories
Ah to be a whale, dolphin or porpoise living in the deep blue sea. But what do they do all time, where are they going, how do they spend their days, how do they raise their young? These are all questions that researchers and scientists hope to understand by studying their life histories. While living… [read more]
Mysterious dolphin skin burn
Australian dolphin experts and enthusiasts are baffled by a terrible skin condition that recently appeared on two bottlenose dolphins. The cow/calf pair, named Wave and Tallula, are well known locally and inhabit the Port River Estuary near Adelaide. Photos of the severe skin problem were sent to marine mammal experts around the world, but no… [read more]
Shark-toothed dolphin and other fossil curiosities
Ah yes Squalodon, a genus of shark-toothed dolphins that lived 20 million years ago and is now extinct. This is probably a good thing, a dolphin just wouldn’t be a dolphin if it had shark teeth. That just doesn’t seem right. Although shark teeth may have helped them avoid captivity down the road… According to the Encyclopedia… [read more]
Dead gray whale ate sweat pants for lunch
I have heard many stories about the devastating impacts of pollution, how fishing gear entangles and strangles marine mammals, how bits of plastic end up in birds’ stomachs, and how plastic bags are mistaken for jellyfish by turtles. But sweat pants in a gray whale’s stomach?! That is a first. And unfortunately won’t be the… [read more]
Very cool baleen whale fossil
Well I have to say reading the article on the cetacean fossil record in the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals really challenged my attention span a few times. But sticking with it paid off when I happened upon the part about the Llanocetus denticrenatus. This is the name given to a very unique 35 million year… [read more]
Cetacean fossil record: whale and dolphin bones
When it comes to figuring out the ancient history of whales and dolphins, all we really have is their bones. Sometimes whole skeletons have been found, but more often it’s pieces or sections of bone here and there that provide clues to a larger puzzle. Most whale and dolphin fossils are found in sedimentary rock,… [read more]
Whales and dolphins have lived through some crazy times
In the last two million years, the earth has gone through many changes. Yet, many whales and dolphins have managed to survive it all. I’m talking ice ages, sea level rise, dramatic shifting of land masses and coastlines. Although, it does seem like it would be easier for fully aquatic animals to adjust to shifting… [read more]
Evolution mimicry: look like a shark to trick others
Mimicry is a cool evolutionary strategy that pygmy and dwarf sperm whales have used to get through life with fewer predator attacks. These two marine mammals have incorporated some of the standard characteristics of sharks to scare off other animals that may have considered them possible dinner options. According to the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals,… [read more]