saddlepatchkid - Tumblr blog

[saddlepatchkid]

Here it finally is, the full cetacean eye colour info sheet! A long time coming, and an even longer time in the making. I hope that all you cetacean eye curious people will find this one as fascinating as the killer whale eye colour post. It’s a wild world out there! 

[saddlepatchkid]

Remember when pro caps and facilities kept saying that the srkw captures only happened for a short time and didn’t impact the population 🙃

[saddlepatchkid]

Unfortunately new research is showing the southern residents are quite inbred, this is impacting their recovery :(

[saddlepatchkid]

I’m so sad for Kiska. She deserved so much better, as did all of Marineland’s animals.

At least she won’t experience any more suffering ever again, and she helped put an end to captive cetacean suffering in Canada

[saddlepatchkid]

RIP Kiska. I’m so sorry you died alone. I hope you are at peace now

[saddlepatchkid]

The Center for Whale Research announces the death of Ken Balcomb. 

 The CFWR memorial page can be found here and Orca Networks page here.

[saddlepatchkid]

What color are orcas' eyes?

In short, mostly brown. In long, it's a bit complicated as Killer whales (and for that matter, all cetaceans) have multi coloured eyes! Unlike us humans, who have a singular coloured iris and a white sclera, cetacean eyes come in more flavours. Their iris is circled by a pale ring of varying colour, and the surrounding sclera is more often than not coloured too, sometimes even bi-colored. I have actually been working on a cetacean eye-colour-chart thing so I have some neat illustrations ready.

Here you can see the components that make up a cetacean's eye. It should be noted though that when relaxed, the eyelids cover much of it, leaving almost only the iris visible. As an example: a Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). On the left a clear view of the eye in its totality; on the right as visible in life.

Onto the whale in question. All cetaceans have beautiful brown irises: in many it is an unbelievably rich reddish hue when sunlight hits it directly. In shadow or underwater it looks more subdued though. Then comes the pale ring which in Killer whales is quite variable: in some animals it is very pale, almost white, while others have beautiful bright blue rings. The sclera appears two-toned in blackfish as far as I've seen. Killer whales have a rather modest dark brown area of sclera around the iris-pale-ring-combo, with the surrounding "base" sclera reddish pink. For comparison, False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) have a bit more substantive dark brown sclera area, with the surrounding sclera a striking bright red.

I hope this answers your question! This makes me want to finish this chart haha so maybe that'll come soon-ish in its totality.

[saddlepatchkid]

I miss the Tumblr ceta community :( I don’t have time to make posts here anymore though.

I still shitpost on my main @monkparakeet though

[saddlepatchkid]

[saddlepatchkid]

The Bottlenose Whales

Happy new year everyone! Sorry for the quiet, I’ve been busy finishing two big projects. One of the things I loved about both of them is how many beaked whales I got to paint! I’ve never had much chance to illustrate them, so it was high time to make up for that. And what better way to start off 2022 than with some big, thick, and CHONKY bottlenose whales?

The Northern bottlenose is the biggest - adults can reach almost 10 metres in length and weigh some 6 to 7 tons! While male beaked whales are famous for their tusks, Northern bottlenoses’ are tiny. Their huge, square heads are far more prominent, and indeed this is their choice of weapon: males will use it to headbutt each other in fights. Male Southern bottlenose whales appear quite different. Their melons are smaller and more forward facing - not quite the battering ram the northerners wear - and their bodies are completely covered in rake marks, revealing a different fighting strategy. Theirs is the traditional beaked whale way of going tusk-to-tusk. It’s been said that males can bear so many scars they look almost white from a distance.

And then comes the Longman’s beaked whale - not really a bottlenose whale pur sang, but rather a namesake based on looks. They are a surprisingly recent discovery: they were only identified in the early 2000′s! Before then mysterious tales of Southern bottlenose whales in tropical waters had intrigued scientists. Longman’s beaked whale was already known, but only from two skulls. No one knew what they looked like. It wasn’t until 2003 when two stranded whales were identified through DNA, and the species’ appearance was first described. People turned to the sightings of “tropical bottlenose whales”, and concluded they were one and the same.

Most Longman’s seen are immatures; they have a light-coloured melon similar to that of female Southern bottlenoses, and so the comparison is often made. But adult Longman’s should be far more distinctive: females become uniform grey, with a lighter, often orange-tinged face. Males are more of an enigma - one paper stated that at sea they appeared to be completely light grey, with only a darker dorsal fin. Sadly this paper holds the only photographs I could find of these presumed adult males: two grainy, black-and-white shots of a ghost surfacing amongst others. To my knowledge no adult male has ever stranded, so until then their appearance (and my illustration) is something of a guess. They remain poorly known with few sightings - there’s still so much to learn about these animals.

[saddlepatchkid]

CW // animal death

So, I’ve said it before, and this may be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think euthanasia or death is the worst thing to happen to an animal (long-suffering deaths and improperly done euthanasias aside). Im not saying it’s good, and it’s certainly sad, but it’s not bad either-it’s neutral.

I personally find it really uncomfortable how many people in the captivity debate want captivity to persist for unreleasable animals when euthanasia is an accessible and compassionate option. I’m not saying that cetacean rescue and rehab centres shouldn’t exist, but given that euthanasia is commonly employed in every other type of wildlife rescue, I find it… strange that it’s not commonly accepted for cetaceans (among people who debate captivity at least, and both sides too).

Winter’s death reminded me how prevalent this weird subtle anti-euthanasia mindset is among ceta people. And I want to be clear, that Winter’s death is tragic and heartbreaking and that I’m not trying to use her death as a soapbox; as I said, this is something I’ve mentioned before. However I’ve seen several people get huffy about whether or not it was cruel to keep Winter alive, so I think it’s important to bring this point up.

I also want to say that, as an anti-cap, CMA is probably the only facility I respect (despite its flaws), and I do not believe that I or anyone not directly working with Winter could determine what is better for her welfare. I think Winter probably lived a decent life. *I also don’t want people to think that support doesn’t euthanizing animals disabled enough to have a poor quality welfare can in any way be equated to disabled humans, don’t even fucking go there, disabled humans deserve to live and not have abled people call for their deaths thank you*

While I trust that CMA prioritized Winter’s welfare, I also have to admit that I’ve seen ARAs try to save similarly disabled animals and been (rightfully) called out for poor animal welfare (by procaps)-for example, horses and elephants with amputated legs that are given prosthetics. This is cruel, and in these cases the animals should have been euthanized and the resources spent on them distributed to other animals in need. While Winter was not a heavy quadruped, she no doubt developed problems like scoliosis that may have even contributed to her fatal GI problems. For these reasons I also questioned Winter’s situation, but she seemed to do well otherwise, so I wasn’t significantly concerned. It felt like one of those situations that toed the line and either decision can be justified-like an old dog with worsening arthritis, where you can tell the animal is happy but also in pain and you aren’t sure what’s the right decision, cause you don’t want to euthanize a happy healthy animal, but you don’t want an animal to suffer either. I also can’t deny that CMA definitely got publicity and money from Winter, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but to pretend like that isn’t potentially a factor in choosing to keep her alive despite health issues is disingenuous.

I don’t think CMA should have euthanized her instead of rescue, or euthanized her when she developed scoliosis, i don’t have an opinion on her situation at all cause it’s not my position to make those kinds of decisions.

But I also think that euthanasia would not have been the wrong decision. And it does concern me that ceta folks balk so much at the idea that euthanasia is also a kind, potentially even kinder, option for animals like Winter. A good death is always better than a shitty life.

[saddlepatchkid]

Procaps on All aspects of welfare that cetaceans of deprived of: *crickets*

Procaps on breeding bans: B-BUT THE WELFARE!!!!

[saddlepatchkid]

The only “source” I could find for the rumour… another rumour itself. This person claims there’s like a “99% chance” they’ll go to china… again no proof… this rumour has only been touted by procaps so *shrugs*

If MLA cared about it’s orcas it would try to keep them under the research provision. But if the rumours are true it sounds like they’ve been planning on sending them to China for awhile… don’t we love cetacean facilities 🥴

**to reiterate: I DO NOT think Chinese facilities are better or even ok, that moving the whales or separating them is okay, I do not support a complete ban on cetacean captivity without a grandfather clause beyond a breeding ban, I’m just so surprised procaps are so up in arms considering there’s not really much evidence of worse orca welfare in China, separating family groups/transfers happen all the time in captivity, etc… like if the park shut down sans antis the same shit would happen???***

A procap on Twitter is spreading a rumour that the there are tangible rumours of the Antibes orcas being moved to China.

Cue procaps pointing fingers at antis (over a rumour… jfc) and antis wailing

OP of the tweet isn’t in the industry, isn’t even in France, no credibility whatsoever. Unless they present a credible source, I don’t think much of their rumour.

Is it possible? Certainly, I honestly don’t know if any other parks can take several more whales (certainly not LP, maybe SWO could but as they probably want to phase out orcas ASAP they may not want anymore-if they are offered the Antibes orcas first and they turn them down for that reason, forcing Antibes to go to China, then that’s on SW :/)

But it sounds so iffy. And of course, procaps are going after antis about it… even though the orca parks in China follow similar standards as the parks elsewhere?? So I don’t really understand what they are upset about…. Yall have done shit to change welfare standards in the US/Europe, but now you want to complain that the whales are going to China? Where the standards are based off of the parks you support?* Actually I do understand, they just like to shit on antis

*to be fair, I don’t know how different the standards are in Chinese parks compared to Antibes. But I don’t think anyone really does (if you do, hmu! I’m a bit out of the loop lately). I know standards for other cetaceans have been abysmal, but the Chinese orcas and their tanks look fairly standard to me. And Park transfers are a common thing in other cetacean species and zoo animals in general. So again, I don’t want to hear procaps complain about shit they usually let slide.

(And to be clear, if the whales do get moved to China, I would consider that an abysmal failure and an example of why reactivity in welfare policies has bad outcomes. But a rumour is a rumour and I will not accept procaps who are otherwise apathetic about cetacean welfare standards to harass antis over a rumour)

Also to start another rumour: if the above is true, I wouldn’t be shocked if Antibes chose Chinese parks because they DONT have a breeding ban. They’ve been steadfast on their opinion to keep on breeding, so I wouldn’t be surprised.

[saddlepatchkid]

And there you go. Actual proof that they’re more likely to keep the whales than not.

A procap on Twitter is spreading a rumour that the there are tangible rumours of the Antibes orcas being moved to China.

Cue procaps pointing fingers at antis (over a rumour… jfc) and antis wailing

OP of the tweet isn’t in the industry, isn’t even in France, no credibility whatsoever. Unless they present a credible source, I don’t think much of their rumour.

Is it possible? Certainly, I honestly don’t know if any other parks can take several more whales (certainly not LP, maybe SWO could but as they probably want to phase out orcas ASAP they may not want anymore-if they are offered the Antibes orcas first and they turn them down for that reason, forcing Antibes to go to China, then that’s on SW :/)

But it sounds so iffy. And of course, procaps are going after antis about it… even though the orca parks in China follow similar standards as the parks elsewhere?? So I don’t really understand what they are upset about…. Yall have done shit to change welfare standards in the US/Europe, but now you want to complain that the whales are going to China? Where the standards are based off of the parks you support?* Actually I do understand, they just like to shit on antis

*to be fair, I don’t know how different the standards are in Chinese parks compared to Antibes. But I don’t think anyone really does (if you do, hmu! I’m a bit out of the loop lately). I know standards for other cetaceans have been abysmal, but the Chinese orcas and their tanks look fairly standard to me. And Park transfers are a common thing in other cetacean species and zoo animals in general. So again, I don’t want to hear procaps complain about shit they usually let slide.

(And to be clear, if the whales do get moved to China, I would consider that an abysmal failure and an example of why reactivity in welfare policies has bad outcomes. But a rumour is a rumour and I will not accept procaps who are otherwise apathetic about cetacean welfare standards to harass antis over a rumour)

Also to start another rumour: if the above is true, I wouldn’t be shocked if Antibes chose Chinese parks because they DONT have a breeding ban. They’ve been steadfast on their opinion to keep on breeding, so I wouldn’t be surprised.

[saddlepatchkid]

A procap on Twitter is spreading a rumour that the there are tangible rumours of the Antibes orcas being moved to China.

Cue procaps pointing fingers at antis (over a rumour… jfc) and antis wailing

OP of the tweet isn’t in the industry, isn’t even in France, no credibility whatsoever. Unless they present a credible source, I don’t think much of their rumour.

Is it possible? Certainly, I honestly don’t know if any other parks can take several more whales (certainly not LP, maybe SWO could but as they probably want to phase out orcas ASAP they may not want anymore-if they are offered the Antibes orcas first and they turn them down for that reason, forcing Antibes to go to China, then that’s on SW :/)

But it sounds so iffy. And of course, procaps are going after antis about it… even though the orca parks in China follow similar standards as the parks elsewhere?? So I don’t really understand what they are upset about…. Yall have done shit to change welfare standards in the US/Europe, but now you want to complain that the whales are going to China? Where the standards are based off of the parks you support?* Actually I do understand, they just like to shit on antis

*to be fair, I don’t know how different the standards are in Chinese parks compared to Antibes. But I don’t think anyone really does (if you do, hmu! I’m a bit out of the loop lately). I know standards for other cetaceans have been abysmal, but the Chinese orcas and their tanks look fairly standard to me. And Park transfers are a common thing in other cetacean species and zoo animals in general. So again, I don’t want to hear procaps complain about shit they usually let slide.

(And to be clear, if the whales do get moved to China, I would consider that an abysmal failure and an example of why reactivity in welfare policies has bad outcomes. But a rumour is a rumour and I will not accept procaps who are otherwise apathetic about cetacean welfare standards to harass antis over a rumour)

Also to start another rumour: if the above is true, I wouldn’t be shocked if Antibes chose Chinese parks because they DONT have a breeding ban. They’ve been steadfast on their opinion to keep on breeding, so I wouldn’t be surprised.

[saddlepatchkid]

Joking aside, I’m so worried that Trites’ new paper will be the final nail in the coffin for the SRKW; policy makers and dam stakeholders finally have a paper saying there are enough salmon for them to eat, what more do they need to deny dam removal?

[saddlepatchkid]

You know I’m glad I didn’t go into cetology bc if I ever met Trites or Robeck it would be ON SIGHT