Marine Mammals

no whales 'round here...

none here either, but still fascinated with them!

am really crazy about dolphins and even wrote a poem about them. just click the link: Dolphins

The blue and humpback whales will soon be coming back here to winter...mostly on the Kona side of the island, and off Maui, but do see the occasional one off Hilo as well.

Nice poem, Wolfie...

*blush* thanks....

I guess you never forget your first whale. I was on Maui with my family and one obligingly spouted (more like a spray than that fountain they draw in pictures), then did a surface maneuver and went into dive mode finishing up with a fluke salute to us. A perfect whale's tail against a blue sky...poised just like in the pictures. Icredible!!!

'Would I remember the way to breathe there' - it is beautiful, Wolfie. The fascination and the fear, and the beauty of what we love lying also in unattainability.

i liked the poem Wolfie... 'mingle...'

thanks *blush*

Are you ever going to publish your poetry?

Well, that one is web published. There are now web poetry journals, as well. I just got two of mine accepted by e-zine Poetry Now. The poems are "A Well-Made Man" (a Walt Whitman parody) and "Pretzel Logic" (an almost throwaway piece of humorous doggerel I wrote as a college poetry student). Wolfie, if you don't publish (either hard copy or on-line)...you should.

closing the stupid tag

ha-ha! John, I'm impressed! We have a published writer in our midst!

thanks for the word of encouragement! um, i did publish one poem, Flight of the Midnight Wolf. but have been leary of webzines. am a member of a couple of writer's zines (part of my webrings) but haven't submitted anything. AND am suffering from major writer's block.

It won't be long until webzines have more credibility than paper and ink. They already have a bigger readership than most bound poetry journals.

Wolf, lovely poem and website, I just visited!

Wolf, what a GREAT GREAT poem! It really made the hairs on my arms stand on end, really. You are damned good at this! I'm sorry you're suffering from block, but just REMEMBER that you are really very good. And post more of your poems if you have any about animals - they are so great. I'm going to go open a topic.

*blush* thanks, ree *hugs*

Not sure how close to Dolphins you have actually been in the wild, but your poem captures the essence of what I felt when aboard a boat watching them cavort in the wake. It is truly an awesome experience! Thank you for sharing it with us!

i've touched tank bound dolphins and have seen wild ones off in a distance. the feeling they gave me was so deep that it was as if they were in me, a part of me. seeing them brings tears to my eyes.

...I know the feeling, Dear, I know...! *hugs*

It was as though they had captured my heart and flown with it through the waves with them! Only one person has had that effect on me...

it was wonderful to look into their eyes. it was as close to heaven as i imagine i could get on earth! the same with a killer whale. i was able to go all the way up to the bars at sea world and looked him in the eye. i was told to keep my arms in (i was trying to hang on to the bars so no one would push me out of the way).

...please don't feed the "killer" whale?! How extraordinary it is to look at them and see the intelligence in their eyes! (chicken-skin time, again)

...it is almost beyond words, but it is like they are saying " I know you, and I know you know I know you!"

indeed! it's as if i'm in the presence of something greater than i. it's pure and honest and unintimidating (except for the very size of these critters, how could one not feel tiny in their presence?)

Yet another great "Wolf" poem, Wolfie

''Free Willy'' star roams Iceland bay REYKJAVIK, Iceland (Reuters) - Keiko, the killer whale star of the ``Free Willy'' movie, swam out of his pen into the enclosed waters of a remote Icelandic bay Friday to the delight of a nature group preparing him for a return to the wild. The five-ton whale poked his nose through an underwater cage at 4 a.m. EST, and moved into another pool where he will have medical tests. But the netting closing off the pool has been removed, allowing the black and white orca to roam an enclosed area of Klettsvik Bay in the Westman Islands off Iceland's south coast about 22 times bigger than his current home. ``It's been just a terrific day. Everything that we had hoped would happen has actually occurred,'' Charles Vinick, executive vice president of Ocean Futures, which is rehabilitating Keiko, told Reuters by phone from Klettsvik Bay. The bay enclosure will be a halfway house for Keiko before he is released into the sea, possibly later this year, and will allow him to experience an ocean environment for the first time since his capture off Iceland more than 20 years ago. It is the first attempt to reintroduce a killer whale to the wild. After a few forays into the bay, Keiko struck out at about 5:40 a.m. EST, swimming out 150 yards and moving around the bay under a blue sky in bright winter sunshine. ``He is really now getting familiar with the area,'' Vinick said. Although there are plenty of flat fish and other marine creatures in the bay, Keiko, who is used to downing an 8-pound fish in one go, will still need food thrown to him. Keiko was captured off Iceland in 1979 at about the age of 2, and was the star attraction at a Mexico City amusement park before rising to fame in the popular 1993 film in which a boy befriends a killer whale in a theme park and helps him escape. His stardom drew attention to poor conditions in the park and triggered an international campaign to save him. In 1996 he was taken to an aquarium in Newport, Oregon, nursed back to health, and returned in a blaze of publicity to Iceland in 1998. Keiko fans can follow his progress on the Internet on www.oceanfutures.org.

thanks for that story. they had a show on discovery where they moved keiko to his larger tank. i just sat there and cried! esp. when his trainers had to say bye. oh my....thanks for this wonderful story!

I saw that other program and wondered if larger tanks were Keiko's future. I was delighted to find this story and a link to follow his life where he belongs. *Hugs* and G'morning, Wolfie!

i'm so weird...i see those great mammals and i just bawl like a baby! the beauty is so overwhelming....

I hadn't heard about that, although I had heard there was campaign to free him. That's lovely. We haven't had anything about it yet on our TV.

i can't believe he's so close to being free. they were, at one point, trying to locate his family via their sound signatures but i don't know if they've had any luck. can you imagine his family's reaction when keiko comes home? oh, the stories they'd have to tell! good luck, keiko!

I echo that!

*sitting here full of chicken skin* Amen! Should I see any further articles, I'll post them. The thought of reunion with his family boggles the mind. Incredible chills!

an article i just found on msn says keiko has been fending for himself for at least half a day's worth of food. that's great! he had been living in a pen the size of a soccer field (don't know if that's the one they had specially built for him or not). can you imagine his trepidation when he first sees all the room he has? he has no predators (just man, sadly)....

That's a lot of room, even for an Orca. He can still echo-locate the fence enclosing him which should keep anxiety attacks in check for a little while.

and then the curiosity will set in, what's out there? i'll bet that he will keep his bond with humans even as he learns to live on his own and outlives the folks who took care of him....

Yes, I'm sure of that! He will come back from time to time but will be curious and have urges to be with his own kind...*smile*

of course he will. did his dorsal fin ever straighten out?

Don't know him that intimately, but other mammals have unstraight thingies - why should he be different? *grin*

well, they said his was laying over because of an illness....hmmmm.......

Poor baby...all he needed was a Orchess?!

*lol*

Maggie asked me to post this for her: Pods of killer whales have been sighted off the coast of Cornwall, England. Some whales were seen near a group of basking sharks off Land's End. 'I was watching thesharks and then I saw the killer whale leap virtually out of the water. It went like a rocket' an observer said.

are there seals over in that part of the atlantic?

thanks for that marcia and maggie!

Good question, Wolfie. Been there and do not recall seeing any, but it is rich in fish. The coast is very rugged and craggy cliffs all over - no beaching places much for seals right there, but up a ways north should be just fine for Orcas. They like cold seas and they have it there!

good thing orcas have no natural enemies (well, except for us)....must be really rich in food!

As long as they are happy with fish, they will be sleek and happy.

I was disappointed not to find pics on the news. There are seals off devon and cornwall, mainly around the offshore islands. We had a lot of grey seals in Northumbria. We used to take our lunch down by the harbour in Berwick on Tweed and seal watch. never ceases to fascinate me.

Any in the Severn area, Maggie? I was hoping for your input here. I was hoping a bureau of wildlife (or whatever they are there) helicopter would go out and have a look-see and take some pictures.

I think so (seals). They run boat trips to see them.

just came back from a wonderful showing at our local IMAX theatre. it was called "Dolphins" and was rather short, but beautiful! oh, it fueled me up with their wondrous beauty again. renewed my desire to be around them (not that it was ever distinguished). if i could pack a bag and head out on a plane tomorrow, i'd do it. it is illigal to swim with dolphins in the usa because of incidents of misbehavior due to curiosity on human parts which results in injuries due to wild dolphins trying to protect themselves (getting slapped with a tail fin or bitten). BUT, go to sea world, in my case, florida, and spend the money to go on the trainers seminar. they provide a wetsuit and only 5 people in addition to the trainers are there. you get to jump in the water with them and can take pictures. a friend brought back two lovely pictures for me when she tagged along with another friend who did this seminar. also, if you're interested in benefiting dolphins in the wild, visit this website: http://www.dolphinsfilm.com

You can swim with them and feed them at a hotel in Kona on this island. The Dolphin Experience, they call it. Sending you literature on it!!!

thanks girl! wonder if the AM would make that my promotion present? (he already told me when i make my next paygrade, he'd send me to florida to do just that)

Hmmm...!!! They'll have to drag you kicking and screaming out of the pool. *lol* I can just imagine how great it would be to be there with you for this experience. Something like this has to be shared with special people! *Hugs*

envy, envy envy!!!

Hey you guys! This is what I was reading last night just before I went to sleep, I was definitely here with you in spirit!!!: Hear the Whales I want to float in warm sweet water Watch dolphins chase through waves of blue Where coral spreads its spiny stems See neon fish of parrot hue But most of all to hear the whales sing. I want to paint the gemstone colours of the butterfly To feel the deep blue velvet of the swallow's wing To tread old rock where eidelweiss does lie But most of all, to hear the whales sing. I want to smell the scent of tropic flowers And touch the soft sweet bloom against my cheek To walk in Spring's pure rainbow'd showers But most of all, to hear the whales sing. To see the sunrise over mountain and strike the heart of glen And view the Northern lights as they shine clear. To watch old 'Will-owisp' as he trips o'er the fen But most of all, to hear the whales sing. To know crisp snows and desert sands and soft warm sinds that blow. To sail, to drift around each bend 'til river meets the sea. I want to take the hands of all those that I know And lead them out to hear the whales sing!

Whoops - that was by Jan Eve.

loved it!

Knew you would! I almost did dolphins for henna body art today, but decided on celtic knotwork instead.

i've gotta get one of those kits!

Oooh...lovely poem - just like it is here where you can hear the whales breathing as you watch the eruptions at night and you can watch the spinner dolphins herd fishes into coves to eat them around dawn. And the water out here is almost body temperature! Sheesh! Am I gonna be the only unilluminated person on Spring? Henna, tatoos *s i g h*

I'll set up virtual shop!!! What pattern do you want? My celtic one is much appreciated *blush*

dolphins! what else?

Oh Yes! Love the Celtic one! Go for it, Maggie!

Celtic interweave with dolphins leaping over the spaces between them..? Dolphins would be lovely...but is there a template for them? (sorry Wolfie - we posted at the exact same time!)

that's ok! just checkin' in on my lunchbreak. be back later!

oops, sorry pressedthe wrong button. Am scanning in the sheet now. On it's way,Marcia.

No dolphins, though. Should I post it here? Or elsewhere? Wolfie???

There are two lovely dolphins - look again!

I saw them - in a lovely circle. Wolfie will love them!

send it to me!

Will do - right away but it might take a while to get from my computer to yours. HOL is sending me stuff but I need an email coming in to trigger my outgoing. Send me a blank email, please...

k....

done

Nothing happening here yet...Thanks for trying...I know it is getting me online because I see the posts I am writing appear on the topics - like this one... ...and Penn State just made the semi's of the NIT in forever (we are not known for basketball) by beating Kent 81-74. Ya HOO!!!

Thanks for trying - it is bound to show up..but nothing is coming in or going out and have no idea why.

Nothing's happening so I am gonna close out and try later. Your artwork is loaded and ready to send as soon as Hawaii-OFF-line gets their act together. g'bye for now... *special hugs* Wolfie!!!

to you too! *HUGS*

You should have you mail this morning. There were 51 incoming when I logged in this morning - and all those outgoing email, as well...At least it is working agin - and I found "here comes the dolphins" from you as they were disappearing from my computer and onto yours. They are on the top right side of the template.

Another sad one I'm afraid: In the Solomon Islands a total of 38 whales (unspecified type) are stranded on the Choisen Island and are dying. Villagers have managed to return three others to the water. Police say the main problem now is how to dispose of the bodies before they begin to decompose and become a health risk to the village.

worry about returning them first, then worry about their bodies!

A story better saved for another day, perhaps...

*sigh*

*sniffle*

*hugs*

thanks.....

ANY time...! For you I am on call 24/7 *warm and loving hugs*

You know - those really Huggy Hugs...

yup, the kind that really feel good. thanks a bunch sweetie...

Like I said...any time! My honor and pleasure.

likewise *HUGS*

i think i have that one some where! thanks....

shoulda made'um go all the way across the page...*sigh* (my first multiple, actually!)

just takes practice!

g'night, lemme go while i'm cheered up.....(gotta get up at 5 for spinning)

g'night Wolfie - I gotta go make dinner...*hugs*

Hey - I feel left out!

Jump on in....we were handling the crisis when it was happening and you were sound asleep. *Hugs* We mentioned you and I forwarded the conversation to you. Please don't feel left out!

OK - so long as I'm not in trouble for the whales posting.

Last month the were about 14 whales which beached themselves in the Bahamas; 9 of them were freed back into the ocean. The problem, according to some marine biologists, was that the US Navy was conducting sonar detection testing in the area. The Navy says it doesn't think the testing of its equipment had any effect on the whales. The biologists think it may well have disoriented and frightened the whales. Their reasoning is that just as humans depend to much on sight and are in fact highly visual creatures; whales are extraordinarily accoustical creatures. The marine biogists also noted whale beachings in the Canary Islands about 4 years ago, and in Florida slightly before that, while the Navy was carrying out the same sorts of tests in those areas.

wonder if they can use different frequencies (navy)....

Of course they can! So can the whales! Seriously, I sent the posts above to Lance. His father worked on Sonar in its infancy...perhaps he can answer this.

then are the sonar sounds similar in song as the whales'?

Not really, but in the same frequency range...whales make an enormous range of sounds from those too high for us to hear to clicking sounds to metallic and whistling sounds. Maybe it is the lure of the Islands making them sing so much, but they are extraordinarily vocal when playing. You can hear it from the shore under the right conditions.

Geez, I wish you'd have named this topic Oceanic Mammals... Marine just antagonizes me to bits when I think... (sorry....never mind me...)

*hugs*

Thanks...I really need that today...I has been really bad.

ok, where's that long email?

I don't want to burden you again... I will email you, though. Did you check MMM?

guess not, what's mmm?

Babes topic 45

(duh!) will check it out!

And, so you did. Thanks more than I can say for your concern. A dead whale washed up on one of our lovliest beaches on the Kona side last week and attracted sharks and the Fed Wildlife guys. They removed the whale but kept the beach closed for a week waiting for the sharks to move on. They did not have any trouble keeping the people snacks out of the water...

I just went through the humiliating experience of shredding his mail to me. Never print it out...or live with an insecure snoop.

free food. bet their were people who wanted to watch though.

Of course. They had to police the area so people would not swim (and feed the sharks even more) nor take souvenirs of the poor late whale. Weird!

(did shred paper, but not those precious papers...just throwaways from the junk mail *grin*)

Sorry for crepe-draping all over the place. Shall not do that again!

SING OUT LOUD, SING OUT LONG Some male humpback whales lengthened their songs while others ceased to sing altogether when exposed to low-frequency sonar tests off the coast of Hawaii in 1998, suggesting that sonar transmissions by the U.S. Navy could disrupt whale breeding and cause other behavioral changes, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. On average, the whales' songs were 30 percent longer than normal, a strong shift given that the sonar was tested at less than full strength, said Patrick Miller, lead study author and a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Still, he said the researchers didn't notice any "extreme reactions" in the whales such as breaching. Many environmentalists are calling on the Navy to end some of its uses of sonar, saying that it can disorient and killwhales. BBC News, 06.22.00 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_801000/801458.stm

Dolphin 'Nicknames' Help Them Hook Up in Murk By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000825/sc/dolphins_dc_2.html WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dolphins greet one another by ``name,'' using signature whistles to keep track of one another in murky waters and across distances, a researcher says. While he hesitates to say the dolphins are actually using language, the researcher said the study shows dolphins have a clear and consistent vocabulary and are able to identify one another as individuals. ``Each dolphin develops a very specific signature signal,'' biologist Vincent Janik of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, who conducted the study, said Thursday in a telephone interview. ``They always use the same call. Some people call it a name.'' But because the dolphins seem to develop their own signature whistles, Janik said the calls are more like Internet screen names or handles. Janik studied wild bottlenose dolphins off the Moray Firth, Scotland's coast. He recorded 1,719 whistles using six hydrophones and a computer-based method for finding individual dolphins as they made the calls. The dolphins were coming into the bay to catch salmon. ``You have lots of dolphins all over the place,'' Janik said. ''Obviously at some point they want to get together again.'' Each dolphin makes its own, distinctive whistle, Janik found. Other dolphins will imitate that whistle, presumably to contact and keep in touch with that particular dolphin. ``It's like keeping in acoustic contact,'' Janik said. ``It's something that we know from birds and humans, too.'' To check his work, Janik used five human ``judges'' to confirm the calls were identical. People are very good at hearing differences in tone, he said. ``I used human judges because a computer is not up to the job yet,'' he said. ``I can say the same word in a high-pitched voice or a low-pitched voice and it's still the same word but the computer could confuse it.'' Janik has also found that, like monkeys and other primates, the dolphins use distinctive calls when they have found food. This one is a low-pitched ``bray,'' he said. ``It really sounds like a donkey bray,'' Janik said. ``It was very clear that this was a feeding call. If one dolphin found food, they would produce this call. The others would rush in.'' So does it qualify as language? ``I always try to avoid the term 'language,''' Janik said. ``But it is certainly a complex communication system.'' Now Janik is working in Shark Bay, in Western Australia to see if mother dolphins and their calves use the distinctive signature calls. ``We know they have to get back together again,'' Janik said.

I knew I should have linked this topic with Geo 36... but I can no longer telnet to do so, have forgotten the command... *sigh*

August 28, 2000 1:52 pm EST MANFREDONIA, Italy (Reuters) - A dolphin saved a 14-year-old boy from drowning in the Adriatic sea on Monday, pushing him to the surface and helping him to a nearby boat. The boy, who could not swim, told Italian news agency ANSA he fell from the boat as he was sailing with his father in the gulf of Manfredonia, off the southern Italian coast. As he was slipping under the water, something pushed him up. "When I realized it was Filippo, I hung on to him," the boy said, referring to the dolphin. The mammal carried the boy to the boat and swam away. The dolphin has lived in the gulf's waters for years, locals say, and has been dubbed Filippo.

There are stories of dolphins saving drowning people going back to atleast classical times. A bit of note on dolphin names. Some current research suggests that dolphins may have their own individual names which they call each other in their own "language".

that's right! it would be wonderful if we could learn the names and call them by it even if we can't figure the rest of it out.

Hey try this virtual whale watching tour.... http://www.princeofwhales.com/virtual/intro.htm

this is neat! thanks maggie......

Looking forward to doing the real thing in a few weeks time .....

Dolphins to desert dying British seas Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor Sunday Times 17th Sept http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/ DOLPHINS and porpoises could soon disappear from the seas around Britain, driven away by overfishing and pollution, says a report out this week. It predicts that large parts of the English Channel could become a dead sea, and re-veals that fish in the Irish and North Seas have been devastated, with birds, shellfish and many plankton species also threatened. The report, for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), studied 10 key species, including dolphins, porpoises, cod, salmon and oysters. It also looked at coastal habitats, including mudflats, rocky reefs and salt marshes. It concludes that two-thirds of the species fished for food are overexploited, and that without tougher controls on fishermen and industry some will disappear. The WWF said: "Cod has been fished unsustainably for years. It is threatened with commercial extinction." However, figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food reveal that fishermen are stripping more life from the sea than ever, taking 772,000 tons of fish and shellfish last year, up from 600,000 in 1990. The ministry says the en-dangered species include cod, monkfish and nephrops, otherwise known as scampi. The decline of dolphins and porpoises is perhaps the most obvious sign of damage. Populations of bottlenose dolphins around Britain were stable until they recently suddenly started falling. Destruction of their food supplies through overfishing is a big factor, but many also drown after being caught in nets. The effect of pollution is also severe. Scientists said a baby bottlenose dolphin washed ashore in Cardigan Bay was one of the most polluted animals ever found. Inland, wild salmon are disappearing from many British rivers largely because of fish farming, the report warns. The WWF wants changes in legislation to halt the damage and give threatened species a way of recovering. These include turning some of the waters around Britain into protected areas where fishing and other commercial activities are banned, and an oceans act to protect the coast, seas and sea bed.

this from MSN Pets & Animals Baby right whale sighted Productive year anticipated The sighting of a baby right whale -- just days old -- off the coast of Georgia has given researchers hope that the rarest of the world's large whale species is fighting off extinction by having a productive year. A newborn found this early in the season suggests a strong year for the right whale which was hunted to near extinction in the late 1940's. Last year only one newborn was seen during the entire birthing season, which lasts from December to March -- typically, seven or eight are sighted. These massive black whales can reach almost 60 feet in length and weigh up to 70 tons. Scientists estimate there are about 300 right whales left in the world's oceans.

Yup, some were afraid they had a breeding population so small that they were essentially extinct. This is good news, indeed!!!