I had the chance to visit the California Wildlife Center during their recent Open House and was completely blown away by all the amazing work they do. The Center is located about halfway between Malibu and Calabasas off Malibu Canyon Road. It’s tucked away in the middle of the woods surrounded by hills and greenery,… [read more]
Gray whales are heading north!
Yesterday, the volunteers at the ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project had a whale of a day so to speak. They spotted 27 gray whales headed north! But that’s not all, they also saw tons of other wildlife doing all sorts of interesting things. Here’s a quick recap: Bottlenose dolphins playing with one of… [read more]
Point Dume wildlife bonanza
Spending Sunday morning at Point Dume turned into a wildlife bonanza with ocean views and sunny skies. In less than one hour I had the chance to see: A gray whale milling about right near shore! California sea lions porpoising and hanging out on the rocks. California brown pelicans watching the waves. Western gulls relaxing… [read more]
Synchronized swimming sea lions
Here is another shout out to the 2012 Olympics in London, this time to synchronized swimming! There is actually more synchronized swimming in the ocean than you might think. For starters, many species of small schooling fish look the same and swim the same way traveling en mass for protection such as the Pacific sardine.… [read more]
List of sea lions
Visit any beach or pier in California and there is a good chance you will see a California sea lion. In fact, California sea lions seem to be everywhere enjoying one of the following activities: lounging on buoys, sinking small boats, stealing fish from fishermen, swimming with dolphins, resting on prime pier real estate, and… [read more]
Fun anecdote about California sea lions
Recently, I was cleaning my desk and going through stacks of papers and discovered the interview notes from my very first article on California sea lions. Wow, time flies, I wrote the first column for Easy Reader almost two years ago! For that first story, I interviewed Fullerton College professor and California sea lion researcher… [read more]
Climate change near the equator
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]
Sea lions, weasels and bears oh my!
Classifying animals is a messy business. Back in the day before genetic analysis, seals, sea lions and walruses were classified as members of the order Pinnipedia. They were considered to be “separate from but closely related to the terrestrial carnivores of the order Carnivora” as told by the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. And of course… [read more]
Classifying marine mammals, clades shmades
As of the writing of this post, there are four clades of marine mammals. Things could change if some crazy fossil is found that alters all current knowledge, but for now we only have to know about four clades. Now is a good time to explain what a clade is. According to the fabulous glossary… [read more]
Oceans movie is worth seeing
I don’t dare post the actual Oceans poster image for fear of being sued by Disney, but I have to say the movie is definitely worth seeing on the big screen. There is amazing underwater footage of sea creatures you will most likely never have the chance to see and of course many great shots… [read more]