Almost 200 threatened Florida manatees have been filmed together basking in shallow waters off the state’s west coast. The remarkable drone footage also shows a pod of playful dolphins swimming through the group. The video of the manatees and dolphins at play, taken by See Through Canoe, is unusual in that it captures the species together in such high numbers. The Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission estimates that only about 7,500 manatees exist in the wild in the south-eastern US.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Dolphins
Stop blowing up bombs on sea floor, say whale campaigners
Wartime relics need to be cleared for wind farms but explosions can kill cetaceans
The detonation of wartime bombs left on the seafloor around the UK must end to stop the deaths of whales and dolphins, campaigners say.
The offshore wind industry is expanding rapidly and this may lead to a sharp rise in such explosions as the seafloor is cleared before construction. A quieter “burning” technique is already available, say the campaigners.
Continue reading...Previous incident may have led Orcas to target boats, say experts
Inquiry into encounters off coasts of Spain and Portugal says speed could be a factor
Experts investigating a series of extraordinary encounters between orcas and yachts off the coasts of Spain and Portugal believe the animals responsible may have been triggered to target boat rudders by an earlier “aversive incident” involving some kind of vessel.
Related: 'They were having a real go': man tells of orca encounter off Spain
Continue reading...Dolphin numbers up in Hong Kong after Covid crisis halts ferries
Revival prompts calls to divert boats to help protect native Indo-Pacific humpbacks
Large numbers of dolphins returned to Hong Kong waters within weeks of the Covid-19 crisis shutting down high-speed ferries, and researchers are now calling for protections before the ferries resume.
Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins, are native to the Pearl River estuary, but typically avoided the waters between Hong Kong and Macau because of the high volume of high-speed boats.
Continue reading...Dolphins and fish: nature moves into spaces left empty by Italian coronavirus quarantine – video
Video shared on social media shows clear and calm water in Venice as animals take advantage of the lockdown in Italy to move into usually crowded spaces. Dolphins and wild boar have been spotted as ports and roads have been quiet as the country remains under strict quarantine at least until 3 April
Continue reading...Dolphins in Channel carry ‘toxic cocktail’ of chemicals
High levels of mercury and banned industrial fluids, found in blubber and skin, can impact reproduction
Bottlenose dolphins in the Channel have been found to carry a “toxic cocktail” of chemicals in their bodies, some of which have been banned for decades and which may be harming the marine mammals’ health, scientists have said.
Belgian and French scientists said they detected high accumulations of industrial fluids and mercury in the blubber and skin of dolphins in the waters off the north-west coast of France.
Continue reading...New Zealand bans swimming with bottlenose dolphins after numbers plunge
Conservation research shows humans are ‘loving the dolphins too much’ in Bay of Islands region
The New Zealand government has banned tourists from swimming with bottlenose dolphins in an attempt to save the struggling species.
According to the department of conservation [DoC] research has shown that humans were “loving the dolphins too much” and human interaction was “having a signifiant impact on the population’s resting and feeding behaviour”.
Continue reading...Japanese man prepares for landmark case against dolphin hunts
Taiji resident will testify in attempt to ban activity as part of charity’s legal challenge
A man from Taiji, the Japanese fishing town whose annual slaughter of dolphins has drawn widespread condemnation, will appear in court on Friday in an unprecedented legal challenge to the hunts.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the plaintiff, who has asked not to be named until the hearing has concluded, said he had been been ostracised in Taiji, where he was born and raised but decided to speak out against the hunts.
Continue reading...Taiji dolphin hunt: activists to launch unprecedented legal challenge
Exclusive: lawsuit in Japan contends that dolphins are wrongly classified as fish and should be protected as mammals
Animal rights activists have launched an unprecedented legal challenge to the slaughter of dolphins in Japan, claiming that fishermen are routinely violating animal welfare laws and exceeding government-set quotas.
The London-based organisation Action for Dolphins and the Japanese NGO Life Investigation Agency on Wednesday submitted evidence they hope will halt the annual dolphin hunts in Taiji, a whaling town on Japan’s Pacific coast, the Guardian can reveal.
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