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Ocean Wild Things

It’s Sea Otter Awareness Week!

September 27, 2011 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

It just so happens that this week is Sea Otter Awareness Week, so I wanted to take a moment and give a shout out to arguably the cutest animal to ever live on earth. (The key word is “arguably,” but seriously did you look at the photo?) The sea otter is much more than cute,… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals Tagged With: endangered, sea otter

TOPP is another cool website

January 27, 2011 by Carolyn Kraft 7 Comments

TOPP is another great website I recently discovered that I wanted to share. TOPP actually stands for Tagging of Pacific Predators. On the home page you can see where tagged animals have traveled including a white shark, a tuna, a male elephant seal and a leatherback turtle to name a few. There is so much… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, elephant seal, pinniped, whale, whale watching

The importance of a good name

December 30, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

Since writing about the plight of Hawaii’s false killer whales, I can’t stop thinking about the importance of a good name. The name false killer whale really isn’t doing these whales any favors. This bummer common name stems from the genus part of the scientific name Pseudorca, which means, you guessed it, false killer whale.… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Marine mammals, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, whale

Remember the Marine Mammal Protection Act

September 16, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

Blue whale watching off the coast of Los Angeles has brought much excitement, but also much craziness. As with all things where humans get into the mix, some whale watching off the coast of Southern California has gotten out of control. I was appalled to learn from Captain Brad Sawyer, who expertly steers the Voyager… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Whales Tagged With: action alert, cetacean, endangered, whale, whale watching

Top 5 favorite scientific names

August 13, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

In general, scientific names drive me nuts because they are impossible to remember, impossible to spell and rarely make sense. But I have to admit there are some great ones. Every scientific name starts with the Genus the animal belongs to followed by the name of that particular species. As I’ve become more familiar with… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Marine mammals, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, dorsal fin, whale

Climate change near the equator

July 20, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

Climate change in warmer parts of the globe could also mean a loss of habit. It’s the reverse of losing ice habitat because where is all that excess water going to go? Three words…sea level rise. All that excess water has to go somewhere and it’s quite possible that it could end up flooding crucial… [read more]

Filed Under: Climate change, Marine mammals Tagged With: endangered, pinniped, sea lion, seal, threatened

Climate change at the poles

July 19, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

Well, I have been seriously neglecting my project to blog through the entire Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, so it’s time to revisit the “C” section, which brings us to climate change. The concept of climate change has become so political that it’s easy to ignore sometimes. But based on all the numbers I’ve seen something… [read more]

Filed Under: Climate change, Marine mammals Tagged With: fissiped, krill, pinniped, polar bear, seal, threatened, walrus

A blue shark, Risso’s dolphins and much more

June 15, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

On Saturday, I went on the coolest ocean adventure. It was the Cabrillo Aquarium‘s annual “Catalina Above and Below” trip. After waking up at 4:15 in the morning, I managed to arrive in San Pedro by 5:30 to board the First String, which left at 6:00. Getting up early and mornings in general are not… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Fishes, Lobster, shrimp, crab(s), Marine mammals, Whales Tagged With: blue shark, bottlenose dolphin, cetacean, common dolphin, dolphin, risso's dolphin, whale, whale watching

Humpback whale: the ocean’s motivational leapers

June 14, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

If you have been feeling down or have lost touch with the fun side of life, then it’s time to purchase a ticket to see the famous motivational speakers, I mean the famous motivational leapers…humpback whales. The ocean’s merriment masters, thrill seekers and acrobatic all-stars. Humpback whales or Megaptera novaeangliae are easy to spot with… [read more]

Filed Under: Easy Reader columns, Marine mammals, Whales Tagged With: body language, cetacean, krill, migration, whale, whale watching, whaling

Northern elephant seals heading home

June 7, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

What better way to start the week than by watching a heart warming video of two northern elephant seals heading back to the ocean. The two stars of this video were rescued as pups by the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, rehabilitated and just released on the beach. One of the seals is… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: elephant seal, pinniped, rescue, seal

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