Striped dolphins in the Spanish Mediterranean are under attack from a virus similar to measles that could kill roughly 75,000 of the creatures before the disease loses steam.
Authorities confirmed the disease, Morbillivirus, was also responsible for a plague that killed hundreds of thousands of dolphins in the early 1990s and also recently affected the Canary Island right whale population.
This is definitely not the year for dolphins -- perhaps you remember the reports late last year of the Yangtze River dolphin effectively becoming extinct. Human impacts, including industrial pollution, boat traffic, and overfishing, were to blame. A video surfaced earlier this summer showing Brazilian fishermen killing 83 dolphins for kicks.
True, this virus may be a natural phenomenon despite its disastrous potential. Things like poaching, pollution and overfishing can be prevented and helped -- and should be.
Tweet for the bees
James Bond calls for more marine protected areas
The Spanish solar collapse
Comments
View as Flat
wildleaf Posted 11:31 am
30 Aug 2007
The dolphin disease of course is in the Mediterranean, but I hadn't read about the extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin which makes me very upset because river dolphins are even more magical and fascinating to me then ocean dolphins. All large fresh water animals serve as indications of how we are treating our planet. My realization of how bad Americans are doing on this occurred from a personal experience several years ago in Richmond Virginia on the James River.
I was sitting on the top of the old damn there looking at the calm water below when an exceedingly large fish swam into the shallows. This fish was a mere foot below the surface and six feet long. It was prehistoric looking with a thin body, bony ribbed back and a pointed nose. It was an Atlantic sturgeon, very rare in the James. Less than a month later I read a report that less than a mile from the dam a manatee was spotted in the river. A manatee!
I did some quick research and realized a few things. Historically back in the 1600's sturgeon was Virginia's biggest cash crop! It was rumored that much like the Alaskan salmon you could nearly walk across their backs at spawning times. They had to have performed nearly as similar a service for the animals and natives of the area as salmon did for the northwest. Now mix in manatee migrating by the hundreds up the river every year and you have an amazing sight!
None of this has much to do with the article other than this: seeing is believing. If humans begin to live in a world were there are no majestic and perplexing species their soul becomes weak and their creativity sours. It is in these amazing creatures that we can truly connect with nature. We can relate to a dolphin that proves itself curious and intelligent. What else can we learn from these creatures?
When I was a child I saw dolphins and tried to swim with them in the ocean of the Carolinas. If I had never swam out towards the dolphins I had seen by the Outer Banks as a child, would I have been as curious of an adult as I am today?
The Black Car Project
Permalink
Biodiversivist Posted 1:24 am
31 Aug 2007
Human nature can be so ugly. I have learned over the years that very few people actually care about the extinction of our biodiversity. If you want to protect it, you have to keep people away from it. We are wired to alter our environment to suit ourselves. We can't help it any more than a beaver can help it.
Disease is often the final blow for a species that has had its numbers greatly reduced by other things, like human beings. Keeping a few dozen or hundred species alive in a small area is futile in the long run because eventually a disease will wipe out the small, isolated gene pool. This is why, if you really care, you will support causes that fight against habitat loss.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
Permalink
Delay And Deny Posted 2:49 am
31 Aug 2007
The only answer for humanity is to reduce our numbers.
China gets the blue ribbon prize for climate control for having done so for the past 50 years.
It seems like even if the Gates Foundation could invent a rubber that had holographic instructions built into it (like Princess Leia's warning message), somehow the breeding nations still wouldn't use it.
We need to be much harsher on each other.
John Bailo
Sutext:
Permalink