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bedtime

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All you must do is eat, sleep and work. God forbid people take advantage of their free time.

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What Team are you on?

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Vanishing Point

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Crozet Island Orcas, Kelping (Killer Whales: Wolves of the Sea, BBC)

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Geriatric Sea Otter Gracie Has a New Lease on Life

Meet Gracie, the 19-year-old sea otter at Georgia Aquarium! Gracie was rescued in California at only two weeks old and rehabbed and released before needing to be rescued again. She eventually found her forever home in Atlanta where she lived with her sea otter friends in the Georgia Aquarium exhibit. Now at her age, however, she needed to make a lifestyle change. AJC writes:

But about six months ago, Gina Fisher, associate curator of mammals and birds at the Georgia Aquarium and one of Gracie’s handful of dedicated trainers, noticed that Gracie was showing more pronounced signs of aging… Gracie’s slowed mobility, her lessened interest in grooming (sea otter fur should look fluffy and Gracie’s was appearing more wetted) and heightened interest in napping (more than the usual half day) caught Fisher’s attention.

Additionally, Gracie was starting to get a bit, well, “get off my lawn, you whippersnappers,” with her four younger sea otter mates in the exhibit.

For the past several months, Gracie has lived in a spacious area away from the eyes of tourists (including behind-the-scenes tours) and close to the off-exhibit residence of the sea lions.

Since being on her own, Fisher said, “her mobility has increased, she rests when she wants to rest, she’s improved her grooming.”

And she eats, well-maintaining her 45 pounds — average for a female sea otter — and choosing what she wants to eat (the clams, mussels and crab are her favorites).

“If she doesn’t want something, she’ll hand it back or lay it on the deck,” Fisher said with a smile.

In her new digs, Gracie receives more check-ins than a kid at nursery school. On a recent afternoon, she popped her head up instantly from her sleeping area on the deck at the sound and sight of Fisher, slithering with a tiny hitch into her pool, where several enrichment items such as balls and tubes floated, to await a feeding.

As Fisher rubbed Gracie’s stomach and gently tossed bits of clam and shrimp onto her chest, the sea otter spun constantly in between bites, then eagerly grabbed a plastic ball into which Fisher had placed some shrimp. This was not a chosen day for the arthropods, though, as Gracie tossed the ball away like a petulant toddler.

Photo by Georgia Aquarium, and read more at AJC!

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Transient by Chelsea Stanley 8/24/2006

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In the northern part of Norway we have had lots of whales following the herring along the coast in the winter time. The light is sparesome, but when it comes it can be a magical light by Kim Abel

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This morning I found out that July 9th is International Save the Vaquita Day, and that the Mexican vaquita, smallest cetacean in the world (and seven-year-old me’s favorite porpoise,) is dying off at alarming rates.

“The vaquita’s extinction clock stands at one minute to midnight and the species is being pushed into oblivion by the demand of a relatively small number of Chinese consumers of totoaba maw,” -Clare Perry, the team leader of the Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA) oceans campaign.

8 Ways To Help (from VIVA Vaquita website)

Donate to the Vaquita Recovery Fund

Sign their petition to the President of Mexico and others in the Mexican government, urging immediate action in banning all gillnet fishing in vaquita’s range.

Write to Mexican officials (more info in the page)

Do not buy shrimp or fish caught with gillnets.

Vote for politicians with a good environmental record

Write your elected officials: Although the Vaquita is native to Mexico, due to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), vaquita is an endangered species in Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

Contact VIVA Vaquita about volunteering.

Share the ¡Viva Vaquita! throught their facebook page or twitter

Vaquita’s lack the proper limbs and information to get out of the water and fight for their right to live. We can’t give them legs and international diplomacy skills but we can do our best to let our lawmakers know that we’re not going to sit back quietly while they wipe vaquitas off the face of the planet.

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T20′s by Andrewcrazybrit

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Southern Right Whale (by Negothian)

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Not the best quality, but too cute not to share. 

J-16 “Slick” with her newest calf J-50 “Scarlet” spyhopping! Slick vocalized while out of the water.

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ew20160605 DSC_7620 -1 par Selena Rhodes Scofield

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“This group of 7 Bigg’s transient killer whales stole the show during our morning trip!” - Monterey Bay Whale Watch | June 6th 2016 by Jodi Frediani

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Orca off the Rausu coast, Hokkaido Japan, 06.19.16

Photos by Hiroya Minakuchi