MetaFilter posts tagged with whale

I Remember Cold Steel Bars & an Inch of Hard Rubber Below As A Kid

Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:05:46 -0800

MONSTRUM believes that playground design should be a reflection of the world surrounding us. We see the world as a place full of colour. We meet boys that like pink and girls that likes climbing trees. Why only play on a monky frame and a sandbox, when you can play in a moon crater or a submarine or a giant spider or an enormous snail or a Trojans horse or a rocket or an ant or a princess castle. The fantasy is infinite.

Parrots of the Sea

barnacles — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:34:52 -0800

Researchers think that the late beluga whale named NOC had been trying to speak with a human accent – or at least talk to its keepers. Current Biology has more (PDF link).

Wave Wash

vidur — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 04:45:31 -0800

"A pod of orcas, or killer whales, cooperate to wash a Weddell seal off an ice floe. This sequence, filmed for Frozen Planet, marks the first complete filming of killer whale "wave washing" behavior." Frozen Planet, discussed previously.

Humpback whales intervene in orca attack on gray whale calf

KokuRyu — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:06:28 -0800

Humpback whales intervene in orca attack on gray whale calf near Monterey, Calif. (article with photos)

Mother Whale Introduces Her Baby

merelyglib — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:44:07 -0800

Incredible Whale Encounter - Mother Gray Whale Lifts Her Calf Out of the Water (SLYT)

Whales for Sale II

Funmonkey1 — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:37:05 -0800

A whale of a tale. On Sunday, a jet-ski activist of Paul Watson's Sea Shepard gang (Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson Documentary) was water-cannoned into the Antartic by a Japanese scouter boat during filming of Whale Wars. The ICR presents a different side to Paul Watson as evidenced by their regular press releases. Greenpeace believes Paul Watson is an extremist.

Sea bros

2bucksplus — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:54:55 -0800

Off the coast of Hawaii comes the first scientific evidence of cooperative play between a bottlenose dolphin and a humpback whale. In two separate incidents a dolphin rode on the head of a whale above the surface of the water. It is not, however, the only footage of dolphins and whales playing around and helping each other out. From the American Museum of Natural History YouTube Channel:

Many species interact in the wild, most often as predator and prey. But recent encounters between humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins reveal a playful side to interspecies interaction. In two different locations in Hawaii, scientists watched as dolphins "rode" the heads of whales: the whales lifted the dolphins up and out of the water, and then the dolphins slid back down. The two species seemed to cooperate in the activity, and neither displayed signs of aggression or distress. Whales and dolphins in Hawaiian waters often interact, but playful social activity such as this is extremely rare between species. The latest Bio Bulletin from the Museum's Science Bulletins program presents the first recorded examples of this type of behavior.

[via BoingBoing]

Whale Fall

homunculus — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 13:28:23 -0800

Whale Fall (after life of a whale). A video compliment to Radiolab's 'Loops' episode. [Via]

Everyone deserves a little mariachi

functionequalsform — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:29:17 -0800

It's halfway through the work week, so let's just chill out and watch this mariachi band serenade this happy beluga whale. (SLYT)

Captain Planet would be proud.

Lovecraft In Brooklyn — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:55:34 -0800

Japan has suspended its whale hunt after pressure from world governments and harassment by eco-vigilante group Sea Shepherd. Previously.

I LOVE SHAMU

The Whelk — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:51:07 -0800

Single Link Saturday Night Dance Party: The neon-dripped hallucinatory candy-pop world ofBrite Futures' - Sideways Pony Tail Previously known as Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (NPSH) with BEARD LUST

Do you have any plenkton?

UbuRoivas — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:50:51 -0800

Beached Az - the adventures of a whale stranded on a New Zealand beach [official site]

Things That Need To Be On The Side Of A Van #328

The Whelk — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:40:09 -0800

Paleontologists discover the skull of a massive predatory whale (Leviathan melvillei) in Peru. Discovery News presents this finding with the best of all possible illustrations. (via)

An eye the size of a grapefruit, keeping an eye on me...

y2karl — Wed, 26 May 2010 21:10:00 -0800

...and there was just rope everywhere--it went around the whales mouth, around the whale's head, across her eye, over her back wrapped around the pectoral fins, all the way down to its tail. I thought there was no hope, there was no chance, we're looking at a dead whale, the whale just doesn't know it yet--but I knew that I had to try. ...It was a very surreal moment looking down and seeing the 20 crab traps and buoys just disappear into the abyss... And just like that, the whale was gone. ...I'm spinning around, where'd she go, where'd she go ? ...Now here's where the story takes a pretty startling turn. ...Next thing I know there's this fifty ton whale coming right at me...

From about 4:00 to 14:30 in nearly 23 minutes of the segment, Animal Blessings--in mp3 here, all 20 megs of it. Or you can try the podcast at RadioLab: Animal Minds. Either way, you are in for a most truly awesome anecdote. And listen to the whole program to have some back and forth science dropped on you in regards to what we think we know about what and how animals think. For print versions-- See also Daring Rescue of Whale off Farallones See also A Whale of a rescue But do listen to the Animal Blessings if you can--the story verbatim is truly hair raising.

Nobody Home

Cobalt — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:11:58 -0800

For the past 21 years, across the limitless expanse of the North Pacific, a lonely whale has been singing, calling for a response. There has been none, and there never will. Picked up first in 1989 by NOAA hydrophones, the call is clearly a whale, but different than all other known species. Different enough that no other whale has responded in all this time. Hypotheses vary, but the mental image is definitely haunting.

Armored Car Without Phallus. Let’s Save The Whales!

gemmy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:15:46 -0800

"One month ago Dartz presented uberluxury armored car with whale penis interior - PROMBRON... As the world’s resonance was very huge and Dartz got lot of angry e-mails from Greenpeace, WWF and also Pamela Anderson, Dartz make strong decision to stop their plans regarding such interior."

Stunning Underwater Photography

srboisvert — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:06:46 -0800

Stunning Underwater Photography A website filled with incredible underwater photography. Particularly impressive shots of a sardine bait ball being attacked by dolphins, sharks, whales and birds.

Whale Meet Again

Danf — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:47:18 -0800

A Beached Fin Whale Closes a Popular Beach . . . .It had been foundering in the surf, and just beyond the surf, for several days. They may bury it or they may tow it out to sea to become a whale fall. It's a fin whale, which is not very prevalent along the coast. Here's betting they do not try explosives! Been there, done that, in Oregon.

The Faroe (Fær Øer) pilot whales slaughter.

elpapacito — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:10:50 -0800

The Faroe (Fær Øer) pilot whales slaughter (warning, crude pictures). The Faroe Islands (prev) were nominated in year 2007 by National Geographic as one of the most appealing tourism location in the world. The inhabitans have traditionally hunted pilot whales and other cetaceans for their own sustainment, but according also to their own national statistics (PDF) , the whale hunting business is no longer a significant factor. Some ongoing online petition is trying to put a final end to this practice.

Whalesong and ocean sounds

Upton O'Good — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:26:56 -0800

The Jupiter Foundation and the Whalesong Project are both organizations which record humpback whale songs from floating buoys; some of their archived recordings can be found here, here, and here. (Warning, last two may resize your browser.) DOSITS hosts a more comprehensive collection of oceanic sounds, with seals and fish along with its whales and dolphins. It also has a couple of nice sections on how animals use sounds in the ocean. (Previously.) A few more whale songs may be found here and here.

impending shark food

ZachsMind — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:31:08 -0800

"Why the fuss? Well, Colin's a baby whale..." Oh no. They named the doomed little thing ('little' meaning about the size of a large car). Mal Holland's report from the Daily Telegraph gives a very illuminating rundown of the nervous breakdown that "Sydney's booming whale watching industry" is experiencing right now... For those too lazy to click on the link, the shorthand version of this story is a baby whale's been found off the shores of Sydney Australia thinking that a yacht was its mum. Colin, as some have now taken to calling him, was found suckling on the yacht. The guy who owns the yacht was quoted as saying it sounded like a vacuum cleaner attached to the hull of his ship. They tried coaxing the little guy out into the open sea, but he appears to feel more secure near the shore. It's theorized that his mother has abandoned him, but no one knows why. Some people are demanding something be done to save the animal, but others are saying this is just part of the circle of life. Zoos won't take the whale into captivity cuz no one knows how to nurse a whale calf for eleven months. A scientist tried to bolster an interest in creating an artificial mammary gland for the guy, but it'd take too long and cost too much. The odds of finding a surrogate whale who will take him in are slim to none, so essentially whale watchers are currently watching a two week old calf starve to death, helpless to do anything. Does humanity have a responsibility to save an orphaned baby whale, or is our duty to let nature take its course? And why do we anthorpomophize starving baby whales?

Eat whale and save the planet

445supermag — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:03:12 -0800

Eat a whale, save the planet.

Whale Naming Competition

ba — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:59:44 -0800

Mister Splashy Pants needs your vote. Even though Mister Splashy Pants is enjoying a comfortable lead, we must continue working to get the vote out.

Oh, also, whaling is bad and Greenpeace is good.

Sharks 4. Humans 165,000,000.

humannaire — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:33:13 -0800

Rethink. The. Shark. [YouTube] The Save Our Seas Foundation [small Flash], a Swiss-based non-profit, joins the growing ranks of a world-wide movement to undo the damage caused by popular reports and gross misrepresentation by Hollywood of sharks as human-savoring sea monsters/killing machines. The fact of the matter is that the opposite is true: Current estimates give between 65 million to 165 million sharks being killed worldwide annually via unregulated catch - including 38 million to 70 million [PDF] for their fin alone, with untold numbers of butchered and bleeding-to-death sharks being cast back into the oceans to die slow and gruesome deaths. [more inside]

Second time (un)lucky

the duck by the oboe — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:19:19 -0800

A bowhead whale was recently killed off the coast of Alaska. When its hunters carved it up, they discovered someone else had attempted to kill it- more than a century earlier.