Attack on juvenile is thought to be first known time a lone orca has hunted down a great white
It is a smash and grab that has stunned scientists: in less than two minutes, a killer whale attacked and consumed a great white shark before swimming off with the victim’s liver in its mouth.
Experts say the event off the coast of Mossel Bay in South Africa offers new insights into the predatory behaviour of orcas.
Continue reading...Pod of orcas in north Japan freed themselves as gaps between the ice grew, officials say
A pod of killer whales trapped by drift ice off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, have apparently safely escaped, officials have said.
The orcas were initially spotted by a fisher who reported them to officials in the town of Rausu, on the north-east coast of Hokkaido, on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...Japanese media report that pod of orcas became trapped in ice close to Rausu on Shiretoko peninsula
Concern is growing for the welfare of a pod of killer whales that appear to have become trapped in drift ice off the coast of Hokkaido in northern Japan.
Footage aired by the public broadcaster NHK on Tuesday showed at least 10 orcas poking out of a small gap in the surface of the water about 1 km off the coast of Rausu on the Shiretoko peninsula – a Unesco world heritage site famed for its abundant wildlife.
Continue reading...A group of 10 orcas has been seen leaping into the air to catch prey, delighting watchers and experts for the past two weeks
Experts and whale watchers have been dazzled by a series of orca sightings off the southern California coast that are being described as “extremely rare”.
A group of 10 whales – including a calf just a few months old – has been spotted for the past two weeks off the coast of southern California, between Oxnard and San Diego. Images from social media show the giant creatures leaping into the air to catch dolphins and coming within feet of boats full of eager viewers.
Continue reading...Cause of mass stranding of 34 pilot whales on Freycinet Peninsula unclear as authorities say they are unable to remove carcasses
Thirty-four whales were found washed up across a beach on Tasmania’s east coast on Tuesday in what was described as a “confronting” and “devastating” scene.
While out training on a boat, local guide Chris Theobald came across an “overnight mass stranding” of more than 30 pilot whales at Bryans beach near the southern end of the Freycinet Peninsula.
Continue reading...Man resembling Brazilian ex-president seemingly spotted on a jetski about 15 metres from distressed mammal
Federal police are investigating Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, for yet another suspected misdeed: “harassing” a humpback whale while taking a public holiday spin on his jetski.
Bolsonaro’s anti-environmental policies earned him the nickname “Captain Chainsaw” during a four-year administration characterised by soaring destruction of the Amazon. But the far-right ex-president’s latest suspected environmental offence reportedly occurred in the waters off Brazil’s south-eastern coastline near the town of São Sebastião.
Continue reading...Nearly 300 sq miles of water on west of Caribbean island to be designated as a reserve for endangered animals
The tiny Caribbean island of Dominica is creating the world’s first marine protected area for one of Earth’s largest animals: the endangered sperm whale.
Nearly 300 sq miles (800 sq km) of royal blue waters on the western side of the island nation that serve as key nursing and feeding grounds will be designated as a reserve, the government announced on Monday.
Continue reading...Local residents discovered trapped whale ‘trailing two buoys, making unusual sounds and having trouble moving freely’
A young humpback whale was freed by rescuers in Alaska after it was discovered hog-tied to a 300-lb crab pot.
The rescue, which occurred on 11 October, came after two local residents discovered the trapped whale a day earlier in the coastal waters near Gustavus, a city close to Glacier Bay national park in the southernmost part of Alaska. Researchers estimate the whale to be about three to four years old.
Continue reading...Images taken by public reveal insights into threatened minke whales, including finding the most attention-seeking whale
Snowy is the oldest known minke whale in Europe, while Knobble appears to adore attention – or, at least, the whale has been spotted more than 60 times since 2002, mostly close to the Isle of Mull.
Photographic records of minke whales submitted by members of the public are being published in a digital catalogue, providing insights about the threatened species.
Continue reading...NSW water police respond after reports of the incident off Cape Banks at La Perouse
One man has died and another is in a stable condition in hospital after a boat capsized after it was reportedly struck by a whale in Sydney.
NSW water police responded to reports that two people were in the water off Cape Banks at La Perouse at about 6am on Saturday morning, after their unoccupied boat was found circling in the waters.
Continue reading...The beloved orca, born into the L-pod of resident killer whales in the Pacific north-west, was awaiting release into her home waters
The whale who began her life in the cold waters of the Pacific north-west only to end up in a small enclosure at the Miami Seaquarium has died. On Friday afternoon, a social media post announced that Toki – who was also known by her performing name Lolita, and the name the Lummi tribe gave her, Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut – had died. She was believed to be 57.
A Facebook post from the Miami Seaquarium reported she died from what was believed to be a renal condition. “Toki was an inspiration to all who had the fortune to hear her story and especially to the Lummi nation that considered her family,” the Seaquarium post said. “Those of us who have had the honor and privilege to spend time with her will forever remember her beautiful spirit.”
Continue reading...Fossils found in Peru from extinct species show it may have had body mass of 85-340 tonnes – heavier than blue whales
The fossilised bones of an ancient creature that patrolled coastal waters 40m years ago belong to a newly discovered species that is a contender for the heaviest animal ever to have existed on Earth.
Fossil hunters discovered remnants of the enormous and long-extinct whale in a rock formation in the Ica desert of southern Peru. Fully grown adults might have weighed hundreds of tonnes, researchers believe.
Continue reading...Rare footage of mammals grouping offshore before they beached east of Albany sets event apart from previous strandings, experts say
More than 50 of the long-finned pilot whales stranded on a Western Australian beach have died, despite an overnight vigil by wildlife experts.
“Sadly 51 [pilot] whales have died overnight after a mass stranding at Cheynes Beach,” the Parks and Wildlife Service said on Wednesday morning in an update on social media.
Continue reading...Whales grouped in pod off Cheynes beach before stranding event with wildlife officers hoping to rescue as many mammals as possible
At least 50 pilot whales have stranded on Cheynes beach east of Albany in Western Australia.
Almost twice that number of whales had been seen massing off the beach since Monday, according to the owner of Cheynes Beach Caravan Park, Allan Marsh.
Continue reading...Captain of tourist boat from Baja California, Mexico, says grey whales return repeatedly for ‘grooming’
Grey whales have learned to approach whale-watching boats to have parasites removed by human beings, it has been claimed.
Video footage documenting the behaviour in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, shows a grey whale having whale lice picked off its head by the captain of a small boat. “I have done it repeatedly with the same whale and others,” Paco Jimenez Franco told a US news site. “It is very exciting for me.”
Continue reading...Research suggests buried carcass unlikely to attract sharks so long as it is placed above water table and high tide mark
A 30-tonne humpback whale has been buried in the dunes behind where it beached and died on Seven Mile beach on the New South Wales mid-north coast.
The adult whale became stranded early on Saturday morning and, despite attempts by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to save it, died about 7pm.
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Myroshnychenko says Ukraine war can’t get any worse
On the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his wagner mercenary group, Myroshnychenko says he is reluctant to get into speculation about “palace intrigue” in Russia.
We haven’t seen any major impact in the battlefield as the mutiny was unfolding, Russians sent on shelling Ukrainian cities sending missiles, heavy battlefields on the frontlines. Definitely the reputation of Vladimir Putin was dented. His leadership was challenged. And in a country like Russia is really extraordinary to see it happening. Putin is running the country as a thug so pretty much a gangster country and all these thugs and somebody revolts all of a sudden, this is already kind of bizarre.
I don’t think anything can be worse, right? Can it get any worse? Look, Russians have deployed 150,000 people in Ukraine – occupied 20% of the land. They just shell us on a continuous basis, killing and raping and murdering people. Can it get any worse? I don’t think so.
I think any support for Ukraine will be very good investment into the restoration of the rules-base international system.
Something which is so important for every Pacific nation because if you can allow a bigger power to curse a smaller power – and you don’t fight back and you let that happen, that sends a wrong signal especially to your neighbours, to countries that depend so much on your support to be sovereign and to make their own decisions and not to be influence bid bigger powers.
Continue reading...Lesions found on 99% of southern resident orcas studied on Pacific north-west coast
Scientists studying an endangered population of orcas resident off the Pacific north-west coast of Canada and the US have recorded a “strong increase” in skin lesions on the animals’ bodies, which they believe is owing to the decreasing ability of their immune systems to deal with disease.
The lesions appear on the whales as grey patches or targets, or black pin points. Some resemble tattooed skin. Their presence on the animals’ graphically black and white bodies is “increasing dramatically”, according to Dr Joseph K Gaydos of the SeaDoc Society at the school of veterinary medicine at the University of California, lead author of the scientific paper.
Continue reading...Decision comes after a government report found the hunt does not comply with Iceland’s Animal Welfare Act
Iceland’s government has said it is suspending this year’s whale hunt until the end of August due to animal welfare concerns, a move that is likely to bring the controversial practice to an end.
Animal rights groups and environmentalists hailed the decision, with the Humane Society International calling it “a major milestone in compassionate whale conservation”.
Continue reading...Second sighting of white whale off Queensland’s coast within weeks has ocean watchers wondering if it could be famous humpback
The second sighting of a white whale off Queensland’s coast within weeks has ocean watchers wondering if it could be Migaloo, the elusive albino humpback who has not been seen in three years.
A tourist flying over the Great Barrier Reef filmed what appears to be a white humpback whale swimming north, as thousands of humpbacks make their annual migration from Antartica to warmer waters to breed.
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