Dolphin caught in net was rescued
A six-foot-long dolphin, which got trapped in the net of a group of fishermen in the sea off Vedaranyam, was let off into the sea by forest and fisheries officials today.
The fishermen of Pushvanam village had brought the dolphin to the shore last noon. On seeing that it was alive, and in an attempt to save it, they had put it in a pond.
The officials of forest, fisheries and police rushed to the pond and arranged for the mammal to be put into the sea, police said.
Excitement caused a leaping bottlenose dolphin to accidentally crush woman
A 27-year-old woman is in a critical condition in an Aukland hospital after being crushed by a bottlenose dolphin that leapt into her small boat and landed on top of her. She suffered serious injuries to her head.
The dolphin also smashed the boat's bow rails and windows before leaping back into the ocean. Coast Guard, Steve Taylor said the dolphin probably got over excited and that he has never heard of an incident like it.
Dolphins are usually very friendly and not aggressive towards humans. They can weigh as much as 260 kilograms and grow to lengths of 2.5 meters.
Longest breeding dolphin in captivity dies
A beloved dolphin said to have the world's longest breeding record has died after spending 36 years at an aquarium in central Japan, the aquarium said Friday.
The female false killer whale named "Jumbo" died on Tuesday, Shimoda Kaichu Aquarium in Shimoda City, Shizuoka prefecture (state), said in a statement Friday.
Jumbo arrived at the aquarium in 1970 and marked her 36th anniversary there last Friday, it said. Jumbo had been in bad shape since early December with her appetite waning.
Kyodo News agency said Jumbo was believed to be 40-years old.
In September 1996, Jumbo broke a previous breeding record of 25 years and nine months set by another false killer whale at Sea Life Park in Hawaii.
"A long-range jumper and quick to recognize the staff's orders, she has become our star," the statement said. "It is truly regrettable. We would like to utilize the important data we garnered through raising Jumbo for future breeding."
Yangtze River dolphin is officially extinct according to experts
A rare white dolphin that survived for 20 million years is effectively extinct, an international expedition declared Wednesday after ending a six-week search of its Yangtze River habitat.
The dolphin, called the baiji, would be the first large aquatic mammal driven to extinction since hunting and overfishing killed off the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s.
For the baiji, the culprit was a degraded habitat: busy ship traffic, which confounds the sonar the dolphin uses to find food, and overfishing and pollution in the Yangtze, the expedition said. About 400 baiji were thought to have been living in the river in the early 1980s.
"The baiji is functionally extinct. We might have missed one or two animals, but it won't survive in the wild," said August Pfluger, a Swiss economist- turned-naturalist who helped put together the expedition. "We are all incredibly sad."
China fears that Yangtze river dolphin is now extinct
A RARE freshwater dolphin unique to the Yangtze River is almost certainly extinct, conservationists said yesterday.
A major expedition launched to search for the animal failed to find a single survivor.
The dolphin, the baiji, traditionally thought by the Chinese to be a river god, used to live along China's longest river, but development along its banks, overfishing and shipping have proved lethal.
The shy and nearly blind animal is one of the world's oldest dolphin species, dating back about 20 million years.
Scientists believe their disappearance would be the first instance of a large aquatic mammal being driven to extinction since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s.
"Unfortunately the baiji is functionally extinct. We did not see any animals in the river," August Pfluger, the chief executive of the foundation Baiji.org, said.
"If there are maybe one or two or three left in the river, we don't believe that they have any chance to survive. We were obviously too late. For me, it's a tragedy in terms of conservation. We lost the race. It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the entire world. We are all incredibly sad."
The long-beaked baiji is related to other freshwater species found in the Mekong, Indus, Ganges and Amazon rivers.
In the late 1970s, scientists believed several hundred baiji were still alive, but by 1997 a survey listed just 13 sightings. The last confirmed sighting was in 2004 and the last captive baiji, Qi Qi, died in 2002.
It is currently listed as a critically endangered species - one facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild - on the World Conservation Union's "red list".
Craig Hilton-Taylor, the red list officer at the union, said: "It is certainly a very sad and unfortunate story."
However, he added: "If there is a possibility that there are still a few animals left, we cannot declare it extinct until we are certain that the last known individual has died."
The Chinese government had set up a reserve in a lake in Hubei province to look after captured baiji, but failed to find any.
Famous dolphin may have faced a sad fate!
The remains were found in two sacks by a member of the public at Skinburness beach near Silloth, on Tuesday night.
A police and RSPCA probe has begun and Allerdale Borough Council is investigating claims contractors may have cut up the animal for disposal.
The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said it should have been informed of the discovery.
London's Zoological Society will now carry out a post-mortem examination in order to establish the cause of death.
Marra, a solitary dolphin, became a tourist attraction when she had to be freed from Maryport harbour in January.
Tony Woodley of the BDMLR said: "The council was not obliged in law to inform us of the discovery, but knows we have an ongoing research project into marine life.
"It is concerning that these remains were left in bits in a bag on a public beach overnight for a member of the public to find them."
Marra was rescued from Maryport harbour in January
A spokesman for the council said: "The council has a duty to remove carcasses from the beach.
"The Allerdale Environmental Partnership, which operates refuse collection on behalf of the council, has procedures to deal with incidents like this when marine life has been washed up.
"We now need to speak to the contractor employees involved and find out what has happened.
"However, I'm sure everyone concerned would wish to apologise for any distress caused by the remains being left on the beach overnight."
Marra became a regular feature in the port, but in October people were warned to stay away from her after she was spotted with several wounds, possibly caused by ropes or boats.
Documentary on dolphin assisted therapy
She played a mermaid in her most notable film role, "Splash," more than two decades ago, so it's not a stretch for Daryl Hannah to lend her time and talent to the Angel Foundation of Hawai'i's production of "Na Nai'a: The Dolphins," now filming on the Big Island. Hannah's been staying at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa.
The documentary focuses on dolphin-assisted healing of children and adults with cancer, handicaps, autism and terminal illnesses. In addition to location work at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay, sequences are planned in the waters off O'ahu, Maui and Lana'i, and in Russia, Canada, Switzerland, Florida, the Amazon, Australia and New Zealand.
Striped dolphin found dead in Spanish National Park
THE bodies of two whales and a dolphin have been found dead at the Estrecho National Park off the coast of Algeciras.
A striped dolphin and a pilot whale were found washed up on a beach near the Punta Carnera lighthouse on November 15. The cause of death of the two was asphyxiation after oil was found blocking the animals’ blow hole. Local ecologists blame the increase in shipping refuelling in the area on the deaths.
A spokesman for ecology group Verdemar-Ecologistas en Accion, Antonio Muñoz, has asked the Environment department of the Junta de Andalucía regional government to open an official investigation after an alleged 168 per cent increase in the amount of ships using the area to refuel in 2006.
“The animals were found covered in marine fuel. They died of asphyxiation as a consequence of their blow holes being blocked.
“Once again we are suffering from the effects of an increase in maritime traffic in the Strait of Gibraltar and the amount of ships refuelling,” he said.
The endangered Yangtze river dolphin
MURKY water, hazy sky and dull brown riverbanks. Strained eyes peering into the mist. Ears tuned electronically into the depths. And with each hour, each day that passes, a nagging question that grows louder: is this how a species ends after 20 million years on earth?
When they write the environmental history of early 21st-century China, the freshwater dolphin expedition now plying the Yangtze river may be seen as man's farewell to an animal it once worshipped.
A team of the world's leading marine biologists is making a last-gasp search for the baiji, a dolphin that was revered as the goddess of Asia's mightiest river but is now probably the planet's most endangered mammal.
Environmentalists warn that more and more species are being threatened in China, where forests can be home to more varieties of life than all of the United States and Canada combined.
The baiji expedition started out as a typically modern-day mission: a cascade of beer from the brewery sponsoring the launch, technical support from international research institutes and a shipfull of good intentions and high hopes. But more than halfway through the six-week expedition, the mood is grimmer as the participants contemplate the possibility that man may have killed off its first species of dolphin.
Spotters on the two boats have yet to glimpse a pale dorsal fin or hear the telltale trace of a sonar whistle, but the organisers refuse to give up. "The likelihood of the baiji being extinct in five to 10 years is 90 per cent or more, but we must have hope and do everything possible," says August Pfluger, head of baiji.org, a Swiss-based group devoted to saving whales and dolphins.
Few people outside China have heard of the baiji, a light grey, long-snouted river dolphin that relies on sonar rather than its eyes to navigate through the murky Yangtze water. But even more than the panda, the demise of this mammal illustrates the sacrifices that the world's most populous country has made in its race to grow richer.
In the 1950s, there were thousands of baiji in the Yangtze. By 1994, the number fell below 100. This year, there has only been one, unconfirmed, sighting.
On board the Kekao-1 survey boat, it is not hard to see reasons for the decline. As commerce booms, the Yangtze has grown thick with container ships, coal barges and speed boats, whose hulls and propellers can run down or tear up the dolphins. Others have been blown up by bombs, electrocuted or snarled on 1000 metre-long lines of hooks set by local fisherman who use unorthodox and illegal methods to boost catches.
Pollution is fouling their habitat. Near Huaneng, the acrid smoke billowing out of a paper factory and coal-fired power plant is so pungent that the crew grimace more than a kilometre away. The factory discharges a torrent of filthy water directly into the river.
The completion of the Three Gorges dam has not helped. Although it is far upriver, the giant barrier has worsened a decline of the smaller fish on which the baiji feed and the shrinkage of the sand bars around which they played.
Scientists hope to save the species by capturing and moving specimens to a nature reserve — the 20-kilometre-long oxbow lake at Tian'ezhou — where they will be protected from river traffic and fishing.
Even with just a couple of dozen baiji, the team believe the population could recover. They point to Tian'ezhou's herd of several hundred Père David's deer. The last 18 deer, which is indigenous to China, were taken to Woburn Abbey in the late 19th century and successfully bred and reintroduced to China.
But so far, not one baiji has been found. With hope fading, the missing dolphin hunt threatens to turn into a murder investigation, a whodunnit for an entire species.
Scanning the water with binoculars, Samuel Turvey, of the Zoological Society of London, said the baiji is a mammal family that diverged 20 million years ago from other ancient groups. "Its loss would be a major blow to biological diversity. This isn't a twig — it is a branch on the tree of life. To lose it would be so depressing. Yet nothing has been done for 30 years. Why does nobody pay attention to a species until there are almost none left?"
China's leading baiji expert, Wang Ding, has monitored the river for more than 20 years and acknowledges that action should have come earlier. "When we started we could be certain of seeing baiji on every trip. It would have been better if we had tried to conserve them then but at the time China was very poor and the government was focused only on economic development. People did not care about the environment at all."
The strain of supporting 400 million people — one in 20 of the world's population — is taking its toll on a river that had been one the most biologically diverse regions in the world. Wang estimates that fish stocks have halved in 10 years.
Many of its endemic species are near extinction, including the Chinese alligator, arguably the world's most endangered reptile; the giant salamander, one of the world's largest amphibians; and two sturgeon species. The list is growing.
Wang says China will add the finless porpoise — another Yangtze cetacean — to the endangered list this year. In less than a decade, the porpoise population has shrunk by two-thirds to about 1000. Spotters on the expedition saw only 30, down from about 100 six months before. Wang is increasingly despondent over their fate.
Scientists warn that the river is losing its capacity to support life, which will ultimately affect humans. "The baiji is like a canary in a coalmine," says Zhang Xiangfeng, of the Institute of Hydrobiology. "Since the 1990s, the water in the lakes near the Yangtze has become so polluted that we can't drink from them. Since I entered the institute 23 years ago, there are more and more ships and less and less animals. The river looks like a highway."
Jim Harkness, the former representative of the WWF in Beijing, assumes the baiji are already extinct. "The ecosystems that have suffered the worst damage in China are freshwater."
Humanity, he warned, is driving animals to extinction many times faster than ever before. And China threatens to accelerate the trend because it has so much to lose. Harkness says the forests of Sichuan province contain more species than in all of North America.
"The problem in China is that it is one of the globe's most important centres of biodiversity, yet it has a huge population. Economic growth and environmental degradation are both proceeding at an unprecedented rate. And because of the political situation, it's not like people can stand up for a species of moss being destroyed by mining."
However, public and state awareness about the need for conservation is growing. China has more than 2000 nature reserves. "China has made an effort to do more but certainly economic development — which leads to changing eating habits, more dams and more roads — is a threat to many species," says Xie Yan, of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which will soon assess how species numbers have changed in recent years.
But economics takes priority. As a member of the Yangtze management commission, Wang wants a fishing ban, but so far there is only a temporary halt during spawning.
Whether this is too little, too late for the baiji will not be conclusively determined by the expedition. But if the most advanced survey of the river yet comes up blank, the baiji's prospects are grim. "If we cannot find any baiji, the message to society will be that there is no hope for them," says Wang.Pollution is fouling their habitat. Near Huaneng, the acrid smoke billowing out of a paper factory and coal-fired power plant is so pungent that the crew grimace more than a kilometre away. The factory discharges a torrent of filthy water directly into the river.
The completion of the Three Gorges dam has not helped. Although it is far upriver, the giant barrier has worsened a decline of the smaller fish on which the baiji feed and the shrinkage of the sand bars around which they played.
Scientists hope to save the species by capturing and moving specimens to a nature reserve — the 20-kilometre-long oxbow lake at Tian'ezhou — where they will be protected from river traffic and fishing.
Even with just a couple of dozen baiji, the team believe the population could recover. They point to Tian'ezhou's herd of several hundred Père David's deer. The last 18 deer, which is indigenous to China, were taken to Woburn Abbey in the late 19th century and successfully bred and reintroduced to China.
But so far, not one baiji has been found. With hope fading, the missing dolphin hunt threatens to turn into a murder investigation, a whodunnit for an entire species.
Scanning the water with binoculars, Samuel Turvey, of the Zoological Society of London, said the baiji is a mammal family that diverged 20 million years ago from other ancient groups. "Its loss would be a major blow to biological diversity. This isn't a twig — it is a branch on the tree of life. To lose it would be so depressing. Yet nothing has been done for 30 years. Why does nobody pay attention to a species until there are almost none left?"
China's leading baiji expert, Wang Ding, has monitored the river for more than 20 years and acknowledges that action should have come earlier. "When we started we could be certain of seeing baiji on every trip. It would have been better if we had tried to conserve them then but at the time China was very poor and the government was focused only on economic development. People did not care about the environment at all."
The strain of supporting 400 million people — one in 20 of the world's population — is taking its toll on a river that had been one the most biologically diverse regions in the world. Wang estimates that fish stocks have halved in 10 years.
Many of its endemic species are near extinction, including the Chinese alligator, arguably the world's most endangered reptile; the giant salamander, one of the world's largest amphibians; and two sturgeon species. The list is growing.
Wang says China will add the finless porpoise — another Yangtze cetacean — to the endangered list this year. In less than a decade, the porpoise population has shrunk by two-thirds to about 1000. Spotters on the expedition saw only 30, down from about 100 six months before. Wang is increasingly despondent over their fate.
Scientists warn that the river is losing its capacity to support life, which will ultimately affect humans. "The baiji is like a canary in a coalmine," says Zhang Xiangfeng, of the Institute of Hydrobiology. "Since the 1990s, the water in the lakes near the Yangtze has become so polluted that we can't drink from them. Since I entered the institute 23 years ago, there are more and more ships and less and less animals. The river looks like a highway."
Jim Harkness, the former representative of the WWF in Beijing, assumes the baiji are already extinct. "The ecosystems that have suffered the worst damage in China are freshwater."
Humanity, he warned, is driving animals to extinction many times faster than ever before. And China threatens to accelerate the trend because it has so much to lose. Harkness says the forests of Sichuan province contain more species than in all of North America.
"The problem in China is that it is one of the globe's most important centres of biodiversity, yet it has a huge population. Economic growth and environmental degradation are both proceeding at an unprecedented rate. And because of the political situation, it's not like people can stand up for a species of moss being destroyed by mining."
However, public and state awareness about the need for conservation is growing. China has more than 2000 nature reserves. "China has made an effort to do more but certainly economic development — which leads to changing eating habits, more dams and more roads — is a threat to many species," says Xie Yan, of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which will soon assess how species numbers have changed in recent years.
But economics takes priority. As a member of the Yangtze management commission, Wang wants a fishing ban, but so far there is only a temporary halt during spawning.
Whether this is too little, too late for the baiji will not be conclusively determined by the expedition. But if the most advanced survey of the river yet comes up blank, the baiji's prospects are grim. "If we cannot find any baiji, the message to society will be that there is no hope for them," says Wang.
Wang says China will add the finless porpoise — another Yangtze cetacean — to the endangered list this year. In less than a decade, the porpoise population has shrunk by two-thirds to about 1000. Spotters on the expedition saw only 30, down from about 100 six months before. Wang is increasingly despondent over their fate.
Scientists warn that the river is losing its capacity to support life, which will ultimately affect humans. "The baiji is like a canary in a coalmine," says Zhang Xiangfeng, of the Institute of Hydrobiology. "Since the 1990s, the water in the lakes near the Yangtze has become so polluted that we can't drink from them. Since I entered the institute 23 years ago, there are more and more ships and less and less animals. The river looks like a highway."
Jim Harkness, the former representative of the WWF in Beijing, assumes the baiji are already extinct. "The ecosystems that have suffered the worst damage in China are freshwater."
Humanity, he warned, is driving animals to extinction many times faster than ever before. And China threatens to accelerate the trend because it has so much to lose. Harkness says the forests of Sichuan province contain more species than in all of North America.
"The problem in China is that it is one of the globe's most important centres of biodiversity, yet it has a huge population. Economic growth and environmental degradation are both proceeding at an unprecedented rate. And because of the political situation, it's not like people can stand up for a species of moss being destroyed by mining."
However, public and state awareness about the need for conservation is growing. China has more than 2000 nature reserves. "China has made an effort to do more but certainly economic development — which leads to changing eating habits, more dams and more roads — is a threat to many species," says Xie Yan, of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which will soon assess how species numbers have changed in recent years.
But economics takes priority. As a member of the Yangtze management commission, Wang wants a fishing ban, but so far there is only a temporary halt during spawning.
Whether this is too little, too late for the baiji will not be conclusively determined by the expedition. But if the most advanced survey of the river yet comes up blank, the baiji's prospects are grim. "If we cannot find any baiji, the message to society will be that there is no hope for them," says Wang.
Third dolphin dies in Minnesota zoo
Another dolphin has died at the Minnesota Zoo, the third this year.
Zoo staff on Friday euthanized the 14-year-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Ayla. They said she had stopped eating and no longer responded to medication after a lifelong battle with severe scoliosis.
"It's been a sad and somber day," said Kevin Willis, director of biological programs. "Although there are plenty of tears all around, people did know this day was coming."
Ayla, whose condition left her with a crooked spine, nevertheless had a playful nature and distinct personality that made her popular with zoo visitors, staff said. She had been sick many times in the past, but her last bout was by far the most serious, they said.
Willis said Ayla lived quite a bit longer than other dolphins with similar medical conditions.
With Ayla's death only three dolphin remain in the zoo's Discovery Bay exhibit. Dolphin matriarch Rio died last March, six weeks after her 7-month-old calf, Harley, died during a training exercise when he fractured his skull.
Dolphin carcass discovered on Myrtle Beach
A dead dolphin was found this morning on the beach in North Myrtle Beach, officials said.
Police received a call at about 9:30 a.m. that someone had seen the 6-foot-long dolphin near 33rd Avenue North, according to a statement from North Myrtle Beach spokesman Brian Williamsen.
Biologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will do a necropsy to determine the cause of death.
Every year, about 40 to 45 marine mammals wash ashore in South Carolina, according to information in the release from NOAA officials.
Dolphin therapy is being studied
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Two dolphins recently arrived in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, to take part in Osaka Prefecture University research on the effectiveness of dolphin-assisted therapy.
Among various therapies involving contact with animals, swimming with dolphins has been regarded as very effective, although there is little scientific backing for the claims.
The research group, led by professor and veterinarian Fumihito Ohashi of the university's School of Life and Environmental Sciences, is hoping to measure the effectiveness in hopes of using the therapy for children, the elderly and the disabled.
The two-year research project will be conducted by the group in cooperation with the Sakai municipal government and the Japan Dolphin Assisted Therapy Association, a nonprofit organization in the city, with 12 million yen in research expenses for this fiscal year.
Dolphin therapy, involving swimming with or stroking the heads and backs of the marine animals, started in the late 1970s in the United States. In Japan, the therapy mainly has been provided for children with developmental disorders.
The therapy reportedly fosters a sense of well-being and motivates its patients.
The research will be conducted at a two-meter-deep, 10-meter-wide pool on a bank of the Doigawa river in the city's Sakai Ward.
The two female dolphins arrived on Nov. 21 from Minami-Chita Beach Land, an aquarium in Mihamacho, Aichi Prefecture, and Japan Dolphin Center in Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture. The research will begin after the dolphins have become settled in their new environment.
As part of the research, about 100 local primary school students will play with dolphins in the water for 20 to 30 minutes each for two weeks, accompanied by a clinical psychologist.
The research group will then conduct questionnaires to gauge the students' emotional reactions. The analysis of the questionnaires is scheduled to be complete by March.
Ohashi is hoping to analyze not only mental changes but also to conduct physiological research, including an analysis of changes in the children's saliva.
The Sakai municipal government believes the research will contribute to helping the disabled and the elderly.
It's showtime for two dolphins in Indonesia
TWO dolphins and two sea lions flew in from Indonesia on Monday night to star in a series of shows that start today at a specially constructed venue in SM Mall of Asia.
Yes, they flew—in special bags or hammocks, it turns out (they’re mammals; they can stay out of water for up to three days, we are told). Then they were transported straight to the Aquatorium for just over a full day’s “rest” before “The Wonderful World of Dolphins with the Sea Lions” commences.
The series goes on for 40 days (until Jan. 7, 2007) with five shows daily—11 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Some more dolphin facts:
1) They can swim and sleep at the same time. For eight hours, their entire brain is wide awake. Then the left hemisphere sleeps for the next eight hours while the right stays up. Then the two sides switch. Thus, they stay alert for predators.
2) Bottle-nosed dolphins—such as the ones performing here this season—are the most common and famous specie of this intelligent cetacean. They are very energetic and are never too shy to approach boats and swimmers.
3) Dolphins are very sociable animals and live in groups or pods of up to a dozen individuals. In areas where food is abundant, the pods combine to form huge superpods. They are known to “look after” pod-mates who get injured.
4) They are equipped with sonar, which allows them to detect underwater sound even 15 miles away! They “talk” to each other with a variety of sounds like clicks, squeals, and whistles. They also use ultrasonic sound to find objects, a skill known as “echolocation.”
5) They are capable of imitation and memorization and can remember specific tones better than humans!
The Aquatorium, just a stone’s throw away from the Mall of Asia, is 12 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The show promoters, Movers and Shakers, carry a permit from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Tickets prices are at P300 and P400. Call 551-8825, 416-2628 or (0916) 984-5255.
