#Whale pee moves vital nutrients thousands of miles
'We often think of plants as the lungs of the planet. Animals are the circulatory system.’
Some new research found that great #whales—including right whales, gray whales, and humpbacks—transport roughly 4,000 tons of #nitrogen to low-nutrient coastal areas in the tropics and subtropics every single year. Described as the “great whale pee funnel.”
https://www.popsci.com/environment/whale-pee-nutrients/

Noice, am booked for a whale watching tour tomorrow - that one is on my bucket list!

"The great whale pee funnel" Scientists learn that whales that feed heavily in northern lattitudes spread large amounts of nitrogen in their urine as they return south to fast and breed.
#whales
https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/whale-pee-fertilizer-ocean-ecosystems-bioreactor/

Bigg's Killer Whales travelling past town this morning.
#Whales #Orca #KillerWhales #Nature

https://youtu.be/dR2cdZDFFjE?si=7bo4y4eaggD2_ggj

my taxonomic hot take for the week:

all butterflies are also moths for the same reason all whales are also mammals.

#butterflies
#moths
#Lepidoptera
#whales
#mammals
#taxonomy

The whaling season is cancelled for second consecutive year in Iceland.

Iceland's largest whaling company – Hvalur hf. – will not be hunting this season. This marks the second consecutive year that the company has opted out of whaling during the summer season.

The controversial practice of ‘whaling’, hunting and killing whales to extract and sell their meat is currently only permitted in Iceland, Norway and Japan.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20250413-the-whaling-season-is-cancelled-for-second-consecutive-year-in-iceland?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

It was confirmed yesterday that Hvalur hf will not hunt fin whales this summer

According to Kristján Loftsson, it’s because of the situation with the Japanese markets (no buyers) as well as the tariff race which is not improving the situation.

We celebrate these news and are happy to know that fin whales will not be hunted in Iceland for the second year in a row

~ Styngvi

#Styngvi #Iceland #SaveOurSeas #Whales

No whaling this summer from icelandic boats

The last decision of the former government, to allow whaling for 5 years, caused much uproar. In part because it appeared to be part of a behind the scenes deal.

But also because of shifting attitudes, towards protection of marine mammals.

Now the company Hvalur, who got the licence to kill whales announced no-season.

Yeah

#biodiversity #marineMammals #protectWhales #whales #iceland #hvalur

https://www.ruv.is/english/2025-04-11-hvalur-hf-cancels-whaling-season-441416

I'm not sure how I missed this story for two weeks: a kayaker was swallowed by a humpback whale, then spit out. And his dad caught it on video. #PutDownTheCameraAndHelp

"'I spent a second realising I was inside the mouth of something, that maybe it had eaten me, that it could have been an orca or a sea monster,' the 23-year-old told BBC Mundo."

"'I felt a slimy texture brush my face,' he recalled, adding that all he could see was dark blue and white."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly50k8zypmo

Have you heard of the Whale Super Highway and how it is under threat?

"Whales are facing increasing dangers along their migrational journeys. Learn how we can protect our ocean giants and make their epic journeys safer for years to come."

#Oceanography #Whales #WWF #Mammals #Animals

https://wwf.org.au/get-involved/an-antarctic-safe-haven/

[Levati et al.] Winter habitat preferences of cetaceans in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-025-04621-8 #Cetaceans #MarineMammals #MarineLife #MarineBiology #Whales #Dolphins

Gray whales are dying off the Pacific Coast again, and scientists aren't sure why https://phys.org/news/2025-04-gray-whales-dying-pacific-coast.html #Cetaceans #MarineMammals #MarineLife #MarineBiology #Whales

last year's feature on the #evolution of #menopause in toothed #whales and humans is now in the #OpenArchives. https://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2024/04/menopausal-mammals.html #science #FreeAccess #cetaceans #marineBiology

Help us save North Atlantic right whales from extinction https://action.ifaw.org/page/125183/action/1

(06 Apr) World’s ‘Loneliest Whale’ Might Be a Sterile Hybrid—and a Dire Warning

A mysterious whale that has puzzled scientists for decades may not be an anomaly, but a clue to what climate change is doing beneath the waves.

https://s.faithcollapsing.com/0godz
Archive: ais: https://archive.md/wip/3s39M ia: https://s.faithcollapsing.com/jpoy3

#climate-change #hybridization #whale-52 #whales

World's 'Loneliest Whale' Might Be a Sterile Hybrid—and a Dire Warning https://gizmodo.com/worlds-loneliest-whale-might-be-a-sterile-hybrid-and-a-dire-warning-sign-2000583975 #Cetaceans #MarineMammals #MarineLife #MarineBiology #Whales

"Breaking News: #Kerosene did NOT don a cape and swoop in to save the whales! Unbelievable, right? Apparently, we just kept on exploiting them—shocker! It's 2024, and we're still writing whole novels on how we didn't save anything. "
https://edconway.substack.com/p/no-kerosene-did-not-save-the-sperm #BreakingNews #Whales #EnvironmentalIssues #Conservation #HackerNews #ngated

Let’s talk about #whales.

During the 20th century—the so-called "Age of Oil"—we didn’t stop hunting whales; we got better at it.

With steam-powered ships and exploding harpoons in hand, the 20th century became the bloodiest era in whaling history.

The peak of this activity occurred in the 1950s, with an estimated 469,000 whales killed in the Southern Hemisphere alone. Progress and technological advances didn’t replace old habits – it only made them more efficient.