Whales, dolphins and porpoises live in a water world and face such a different day to day experience that it’s hard to imagine. Yet, they are mammals like us and seem to make it work despite dealing with an alternate universe here on earth…the ocean. As the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals points out, cetaceans live… [read more]
Cetacean ecology
I have to say that once I saw the title of the next article in the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, my eyes instantly started to glaze over. But thankfully I pulled it together, started reading and it turns out that cetacean ecology is pretty interesting. Just a quick recap for people wondering what a cetacean… [read more]
Last call for gray whale watching!
Attention to all those living in the Los Angeles area we are entering the last two weeks of gray whale watch season! So if you want to get out and see some whales now is the time to do it. March 20th was the annual Ultimate Whale Watch trip sponsored by the American Cetacean Society’s… [read more]
10 facts about Cephalorhynchus dolphins
1. Cephalorhyncus sounds like a sneeze but is actually the genus that includes four small coastal dolphins: Hector’s, Commerson’s, Heaviside’s and Chilean. 2. All four of the dolphins are mistaken for porpoises because they have nicely sloped heads instead of the more common dolphin beak. 3. Based on DNA studies, Cephalorhyncus dolphins share the same… [read more]
Caspian and Baikal seals
For whatever reason, the editors of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals decided to cover Caspian and Baikal seals together in one article. What do they have in common besides both being seals you ask? Well, it turns out that Caspian and Baikal seals both ended up living along land locked bodies of water. A very… [read more]
Captivity: a discussion
Now it’s time to tackle the issue of captivity and I must say I do so reluctantly. Because when it comes to marine mammals in captivity, there are lots of opinions and no easy answers. To ease into the subject, the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals begins with a mini historical overview of marine mammals in… [read more]
Captive breeding of marine mammals
Ah yes, captive breeding of marine mammals. The editors of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals decided to have two separate articles about captivity. One on captive breeding, followed by an article on captivity. So in this post, I will just be covering captive breeding. Just wanted to make sure people didn’t think I was intentionally… [read more]
Callosities: blemishes or beauty marks?
Callosities (from the word callus) are natural skin bumps found on the head of right whales. Most of the time it’s pretty tough to see these bumps because they are usually surrounded by whale lice. But if you look really closely at the photo you can see the dark gray bumps sticking up through the… [read more]
California, Galapagos and Japanese sea lions
I have finally made it to the “C” section of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals! Wow, blogging my way through the encyclopedia is going to take awhile. And so the C’s begin with the California, Galapagos and Japanese sea lions. My impression is that they were all grouped together in the C’s because California sea… [read more]
Bycatch: very bad indeed
Bycatch is the term used to describe animals caught in fishing nets that weren’t the target, but ended up being captured anyway. A real bummer. This issue really hit the scene in the 1980s when “dolphin-safe” canned tuna became part of the public’s consciousness, thanks to an excellent education campaign. According to the Encyclopedia of… [read more]
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