whales

Billboard Top Five, But for Whales

Arts, Culture & Media

Marine biologists have found evidence of the biggest cultural transformation in nature: whale songs that spread across the Pacific Ocean in a matter of months.

Billboard Top Five, But For Whales

Arts, Culture & Media
minke whale

In New York, a whale of a comeback story

Science
Northern right whales

Whale deaths may be related to warming seas, researchers say

Environment
A dolphin performs tricks at a recent Six Flags show in Mexico City.

Mexico City is banning dolphin shows, taking a lead on animal rights

Culture
Killer whales

What can killer whales teach us about menopause?

Health

Menopause is a puzzle for biologists. Why would the female of a species cease to reproduce half way through her life, when natural selection favors characteristics that help an individual’s genes survive? A study of killer whales — one of only two mammals apart from humans to undergo menopause — is providing clues.Menopause is a puzzle for biologists. Why would the female of a species cease to reproduce half way through her life, when natural selection favors characteristics that help an individual’s genes survive? A study of killer whales — one of only two mammals apart from humans to undergo menopause — is providing clues.

Beached whales

The US Navy agrees to limit the use of sonar and explosives in key whale habitat

Environment

The history of whales and humans has not been a happy one, at least for whales — hunted nearly to extinction, maimed and killed by huge cargo ships, tangled in fishing nets and, in recent years, deafened by incessant and increasing ocean noise. But the US Navy is now stepping up and setting an example of how to do things better.

Snotbot2

Don’t let the name fool you. The ‘Snotbot’ drone could innovate how we track whales.

Science

According to its inventors, the device is cheaper, safer for whales and a treasure of data.

The container ship MSC Tomoko Panama in the Santa Barbara Channel in 2009. Ships like these pose deadly threats of pollution and collision to blue whales in the area.

How do you save the whales? Slow down the ships

Environment

California’s blue whale population is making a comeback, but it still has to contend with the threat of big container ships that cross whales’ feeding grounds on the way to the ports of Los Angeles. But just by slowing down, ships can dramatically reduce whale strikes — and pollution as well.

Sperm whale defecating near photographer Keri Wilk

A Canadian photographer captures images of a whale ‘poopnado’

Science

This Canadian photographer was taking snaps of a sperm whale when he got caught in a massive poop storm — really.