The brilliant piece of reconstructed communication between the bottle-nosed dolphin, already plentifully observed to be friendly with human beings, and those confused mother-child pygmy sperm-whales, should in principle be terrific.

Whatever.

Meanwhile, the pygmy sperm-whales got away, which they would not have, if it were left to us human beings.

"Being ignorant" is not nearly so terrible a situation as "not knowing enough to learn how to proceed."

But "humility" works, at least if the dolphin is good-hearted and is on break.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

Yes, and there are better, fuller accounts of that orca than that story with that frizz-head on the side examining his life-or-death board.

The orca is not albino, but is a pale morph, exhibiting vanilla and light brown shades.

It was observed at length by scientists who are not specialized in cetaceans, but are studying fish (actinopterygians).  Nevertheless, their observations are apparently good, and have been shared generously.

We obviously are interested in knowing if the Orca Pale Male (for that matter, what is its sex?) relates normally with other Orcas.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

On thinning ice.

Right.

What the hell, it was East Asia, they should have ordered chow mein.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

Absolutely right, Amazing.

It is just that there are Japanese who trap dolphins in their harbors and chop them bloodily to pieces, a horrifying spectacle.

Why in the world should dolphins trust us?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I have noticed wildlife becoming far more trusting in my neck of the woods over the years.  Human attitudes and actions have changed, so they actually let us see them.

That meant death before, for any animal to show itself.  I am still reluctant to tell others where or what I saw though, lest the rumors of rare wolf or cat or otter get around to the media.  That alerts the tiny percentage of killers, hate filled humans who ride around with those "no wolves" bumperstickers.  

Ready to get 50 bucks for a hide, half a tank of gas in their gas guzzling monster trucks.

It is really time for a human alliance with our dolphin friends.  Heal the rift between the species.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

The ABC News presentation is less than clear, unfortunately.

But yes, it is good that people are at work to help ship captains avoid striking endangered North Atlantic right whales, such as Calvin, whose portrait as she surfaces I have looked upon daily for quite a while now.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

The wolves have been ready for ages to establish an understanding with us.  Not necessarily get cuddly, but, you know, establish respective jurisdictions.  Cf. Farley Mowat's "Never Cry Wolf."

The recent well-played YouTube video, showing a near-wolf dog, a Huskie I guess, playing sweetly and intimately with a polar bear, near Churchill, Manitoba, gives testimony to how some animals have a super-human intelligence to know when they can trust one another and become friends.

Sorry, I am too Hillary-oid and stupid and un-Barack-ishly-uncool to know how to dig up that reference.  But somebody did indeed give that reference late last year in Gristmill.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I have to say, reading Canis on a Saturday has become quite a routine for me ... the comedy, the woe, the intrigue ... the DMS and DMSO creating ozone busting molecules emitted from phytoplankton but being in lower numbers cause excess CO2 warming ... oops, that one wasn't on the list  Yet. My bad.

Onward through the fog

That's my favorite contemporary philosopher! You're talking about Sam.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

It is already understood that increasing ocean acidity will be a problem for all the animals that have calcareous body parts, such as many zooplankton, who are toward the bottom of the food chain.  But we should not be surprised if it has negative effects on other structures too.  If this ill effect has been observed now in one kind of fish, that would seem to increase the likelihood that other problems are happening in other fish.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

On the research of Miguel de Salas, of the University of Tasmania:

<<
He has discovered fish are suffocating from the algaes, and says this means sustainable fishing level calculations are probably wrong.

>>

Another bit of evidence that it is very difficult to talk about "sustainable fisheries."

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I did read about the red-tide blooms off Tasmania.  It should be clarified that most all these diatoms, dinoflagellates, and algae have existed since time immemorial, and that they periodically bloom such as when fertilized by high-iron dust settling from the atmosphere. That's a suspected trigger for red tide blooms in the Gulf of Mexico. Usually the bloom is from one non-toxic kind of algae that is feasted upon by another predator; as the predator dies certain toxins and neurotoxins are released into the waters and even the atmosphere.

I'm not aware, however, of a red tide or "dead zone" of causing regulators to change what is called the Total Annual Catch, of species-specific TAC.  Only in cases where seafood becomes contaminated and may present dangers to consumers are temporary bans put in place.  We see these bans all the time in the form of restrictions on gathering oysters, which may contain E. coli or V. vulnificus.  

The interesting part of the story is whether Climate Change is causing the blooms of Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) to be of greater areal size, duration, concentration, and periodicity (happening more often). Some studies done by Mote Marine in Florida do seem to bear out this conclusion, although warming was also confounded by point and non-point water pollution and deposition from the Saharan dust layer.  

And more tropical biomass seems to be transported further north along the Gulf Stream as well, include some brown tides and algal types not common to the Northeast. In fact we're seeing all kinds of crazy critters such as the manatee, Portuguese Man-O-War, and tropical dolphin-fish. I have not studied the West Coast as well but was surprised to learn about Humboldt Squid as far north as Dutch Harbor, Alaska. To me it does have all the appearances that Climate Change is changing the ocean in ways that we had least suspected, and the consequences are quite profound and shocking.  

Yer philosopher-comedian,
sam

Onward through the fog