NEWSWORTHY
Russian activists raise alarm about 100 captured whales kept in Far East 'prison'
Activists are expressing alarm about more than 100 whales that are being kept in small, crowded pools in what environmentalists are calling a "whale prison," off the coast of the Russian Far East. The local court last week agreed to hear the activists' lawsuit seeking ...
Decompression sickness linked to naval sonar is behind whales' mass strandings, experts say
Scientists have long known that some beaked whales beach themselves and die in agony after exposure to naval sonar, and now they know why: the giant sea mammals suffer decompression sickness, just like scuba divers. At first blush, the explanation laid out Wednesday by 21 ...
Seeking quieter waters, humpback whales may be breeding farther north around Tokyo's Hachijo Island
Japanese researchers now believe it is possible that the northernmost breeding region for humpback whales has shifted far northward to around Tokyo's Hachijo Island. Waters off the island of Kagoshima Prefecture's Amami Oshima, some 500 kilometers south of Hachijo Island, have been known as the ...
The U.S. government Friday took a big step toward opening oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean by approving seismic airgun tests that experts warn are harmful to dolphins and whales. Last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to expand offshore drilling, ...
Up to 145 pilot whales have died in a mass stranding on a remote part of a small New Zealand island, authorities said Monday. The stranding was discovered by a hiker late Saturday on Stewart Island, 30 km (19 miles) off the southern coast of ...
Japan's sei whale meat sales deemed to be in violation of Washington convention
An international conservation committee ruled on Tuesday that Japan's domestic commercial distribution of meat from sei whales caught for scientific purposes violates the so-called Washington convention and advised the country to take corrective steps. The pact, formally called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered ...
Proliferation of marine parks in China fueling shadowy trade in cetaceans
Eight beluga whales jump in unison out of a bright blue indoor pool, flipping their tail fins and spewing water as a packed audience cheers and snaps photographs. Whale shows like the one at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, located in Zhuhai on China's southern coast, are ...
A lonely narwhal that strayed far from its Arctic habitat has apparently found a new family in a pod of belugas in Canada's Saint Lawrence River, a marine conservation group said Thursday. The juvenile narwhal — identifiable from its tusk and gray spots — was ...
200-year-old Mie puppet's neck on the line as whaling ban makes crucial part scarce
Onyudo is a giant kimono-clad, long-necked puppet that has been preserved by residents of the Nakanaya area of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, for more than 200 years. The puppet, regarded as a symbol of Yokkaichi, appears on a float in the annual Grand Yokkaichi Festival, showing ...
Orca back to feeding and frolicking after carrying dead calf
Researchers say a killer whale from an endangered species that drew international attention as she carried her dead calf on her head for more than two weeks is finally back to feeding and frolicking with her pod. The Center for Whale Research in Washington state ...
Carcass that washed ashore on Japan beach confirmed to be of blue whale
The carcass of a 10-meter-long whale that washed ashore on a beach in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, last Sunday has been confirmed to be a blue whale — the largest known animal to have lived on Earth. The National Museum of Nature and Science, which examined ...
Is it a blue whale or not? The slaughter in Iceland of what is claimed was a member of the endangered species has triggered outrage and left experts puzzled about its true identity. "There has not been a blue whale harpooned by anyone for the ...
