WaterNotes

There are many hunting techniques recorded for various dolphin species around the world. As opportunistic and inventive hunters, they’ve found ways to corral and catch many different types of prey using strategies that often involve barriers, physical prowess, and outright deception.  In Australia one group uses sponges as tools; the females carry sponges over their [...]

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s research institute said today that over 100 manatee carcasses were documented in Florida waters following the cold snap during the first half of January.  A full 77 of the deaths are currently attributed to cold stress with several losses of  perinatal (or newborn) calves.   This count beats last [...]

Marineland is celebrating their 10th season of the North Atlantic Right Whale Project with a brand new blog and fresh sightings of right whales off of Florida’s northeastern coastline. Seems that the recent blast of Arctic air may have helped encourage the whales further along their migration route; there have already been sightings along Indialantic [...]

I was probably a manatee in a past life. How do I know?  I won’t SCUBA dive into anything other than warm sauna-like conditions and I eat a lot of salads.  Ok, perhaps this isn’t the most convincing of arguments, but these marine mammals are my favorite in the world, as regular WaterNotes readers well [...]

2009 was not a good year for the sea cows. The Florida Fish and Widlife Commission released its preliminary report on manatee mortality in state waters today and revealed that the past season had a record high loss of manatees in state waters: 429!
The report briefly breaks down totals with some eye-opening revelations for [...]

It was well over a year ago when I first saw National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen’s dramatic images of leopard seals, narwhals, and polar bears in their native Arctic and Antarctic environments in a quick spread of NatGeo magazine. Well, along with the release of his new book Polar Obsession, Nicklen’s camp released the [...]

Vancouver Aquarium welcomed a little female beluga to their pod back in June of this year and now they’re ready to name the toddler. In keeping with traditions at many marine centers and zoos, they’ve opened up a contest to their guests and supporters to come up with a great name. Although, in [...]