Stories related to: whale

New Zealand scientists have begun defrosting a colossal squid, caught last year, so they can dissect the little-known species. They aim to start by determining the sex of the 34-foot long animal, a native of Antarctica that weighs half a ton. "They're incredibly rare—this is probably one of six specimens ever brought up," one researcher told the BBC. More »

Australia is planning to cull 400 kangaroos on a military base, and Japan—oft-criticized by Australia for its whaling practices—is jumping at the opportunity to hail its neighbor as hypocritical, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Not so, says Australia’s PM. The whaling issue is subject to "an agreement between many states, and it goes to whether what is occurring is scientific whaling or not," said Kevin Rudd. More »

Scientists have reviewed the research Japan uses to justify hunting whales, and they've concluded that it is mostly useless—and very weird, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reports.   Researchers tried to fertilize cow and pig eggs with whale sperm, and to create test-tube whales from frozen sperm.  "It's totally esoteric, very strange research," an Australian scientist said. More »

The US Navy is not exempt from laws that ban whale-harming sonar, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Bush administration had contested an earlier ruling, arguing that halting sonar use when whales are nearby poses "significant restrictions on our ability to train realistically." Whales and dolphins have been found dead of bleeding around the brain near training sites, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »

Researchers are trying to determine what killed a female dolphin that washed up on an island off the coast of San Diego—an area where the Navy conducted controversial sonar tests, the Los Angeles Times reports. The dolphin washed up as the Navy challenges court-imposed restrictions on the use of sonar, which has been linked to the deaths of marine life. More »

A California judge has ruled that President Bush went too far when he moved to exempt the Navy from laws limiting the use of sonar enacted to protect whales and other sea life, the Washington Post reports. The White House had argued that obeying the laws would create an emergency, but the judge ruled such an "emergency" was fabricated and the administration had no authority in the matter. More »

Japanese whalers have resumed their hunt in Antarctic waters, killing at least five whales when protest ships pulled back to refuel, the Australian News Network reports. Witnesses reported seeing the whales harpooned in the Southern Ocean after ships from Greenpeace and another protest group withdrew. In Tokyo, the Australian foreign minister protested the resumed hunt. More »

The Greenpeace pursuit of Japanese whaling ships continued yesterday after a ship operated by the environmental group earlier chased down and scattered a fleet of six Japanese whaling vessels in the waters off Antarctica. The Japanese fleet plans to hunt down 1,000 whales in what operators call a "scientific" expedition, but Greenpeace officials consider a thin cover for commercial whaling. More »

In its first-ever turnaround on whaling, the Japanese government has dropped its plans to hunt humpbacks. The about-face is a victory for Kevin Rudd, the new Australian prime minister, who had objected strenuously and ordered a patrol of the humpback hunt. Tokyo said, however, that the fleet currently en route to the Antarctic Ocean will hunt almost 1,000 whales of other species, including the giant fin whale. More »

Quick: What's the the whale's earliest-known ancestor? Wrong. It may not have been Bambi, but it was a deer about the size of a domestic cat, the Guardian reports. Fossil hunters have named the small deer-like animal that waded in lagoons and munched on vegetation Indohyus. It lived 48 million years ago, and it's thought to be the "missing link"  between ancient land mammals and the likes of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. More »

Japan has a ready defense for its internationally maligned whale hunt: Whaling is integral to Japanese culture, embedded in the country's traditional diet, literature, and religion. Yet this argument looks questionable in light of the Japanese government's refusal to allow indigenous people to continue their traditional salmon fishing, writes Bruce Wallace in an analysis for the LA Times . More »

As a Japanese whaling fleet churned to Antarctic waters, a furious New Zealand prime minister today blasted the "deception" of Japan's claim that the killing ships will conduct research rather than commercial whaling. It would be better "if the Japanese stayed home," said Helen Clark. The fleet will catch over 1,000 whales, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. More »

Frantic villagers yesterday splashed water to try to save the life of a whale beached in a river in the Amazon rain forest 1,000 miles from the ocean. The 18-foot minke whale was stuck on a sandbar in the Tapajos River in Brazil. "It apparently got separated from its group and swam upstream," said a Brazilian biologist. "It's very unusual." More »

Australian scientists believe they've begun to decode the meaning behind whale sounds after extensive study of humpbacks off the nation's coast. They identified at least 34 types of whale calls, including a male purring sound associated with female wooing, high-frequency cries during disagreements, and a "wop" sound often exchanged between a mother whale and her offspring. More »

The rash of dead whales washing onto California shores recently isn’t just an ecological tragedy; it’s a mammoth challenge. Disposing of whale carcasses is notoriously difficult, the LA Times explains. Pull one out to sea, and it will probably drift back—as a 70-ton whale did in Malibu twice last week. After a burial on a San Diego beach, leaking oil drew sharks that terrorized surfers. More »

Five members of Washington's Makah Tribe were being held today after a harpooned California gray whale died as it headed out to sea. The AP reports that yesterday the tribesmen harpooned and shot the animal mammal with a .50 caliber machine gun. While the tribe has exercised its whaling rights for cultural purposes before, this shooting was probably illegal. More »

Moby-Dick and Jonah can rest easy—the most overexposed whales in the world appear to have returned to the obscurity of the Pacific Ocean. The two humpbacks, who sparked an international media frenzy after getting stuck in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta 2 weeks ago, haven't been seen since late yesterday night. More »

The lost whales in the Sacramento River are on their way home, but may now be in danger from large ships. The mother humpback and her calf had lingered more than a week in the freshwater river, but now have made it to about 50miles from the ocean. The closer they get to the sea, however, the larger the vessels they will have to avoid. More »