Whale

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Whales are marine mammals of order Cetacea which are neither dolphins—members, in other words, of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidae—nor porpoises. They include the blue whale, the largest living animal. Orcas, colloquially referred to as "killer whales", and pilot whales have whale in their name but for the purpose of biological classification they are actually dolphins. For centuries whales have been hunted for meat and as a source of valuable raw materials. By the middle of the 20th century, large-scale industrial whaling had left many species seriously endangered.

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News tagged with whales

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Anti-whalers, Japanese fleet fire water cannons (AP)

Anti-whalers, Japanese fleet fire water cannons

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 09, 2010 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(AP) -- Activists vowing to stop the killing of whales exchanged water-cannon fire with a Japanese whaling fleet they are tailing in the Antarctic Ocean, as sea confrontations that have led to collisions ...


Whalers, activists clash again off Antarctica (AP)

Whalers, activists clash again off Antarctica

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 07, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 11

(AP) -- Anti-whaling ship the Bob Barker and a Japanese harpoon boat collided in icy Antarctic waters in the second major clash this year in increasingly aggressive confrontations between conservationists ...


Taiwan plans to use DNA from whales and dolphins as evidence to convict poachers and protect the endangered animals

Taiwan to use DNA to protect whales, dolphins

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 01, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Taiwan plans to use DNA from whales and dolphins as evidence to convict poachers and protect the endangered marine animals, an official said Monday.


15 whales die beached in NZ, 33 coaxed to sea

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 24, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- Rescuers in New Zealand managed to coax 33 beached whales back out into deep waters Sunday, but another 15 of the pod died, a conservation official said.


New study suggests minke whales are not preventing recovery of larger whales

New study suggests minke whales are not preventing recovery of larger whales

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 14, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Genetic analyses refute the hypothesis that an overly abundant population of minke whales is creating too much competition over food for populations of other whale species to rebound, according to a new study ...


Taking Japan to court over whaling is risky, says international legal expert

Other Sciences / Other

created Jan 11, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international legal expert says Australia has some very difficult decisions about how best to approach the increasingly tense situation arising from Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.


Researchers Use New Acoustic Tools to Study Marine Mammals and Fish

Researchers Use New Acoustic Tools to Study Marine Mammals and Fish

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 29, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Over the past decade, researchers have developed a variety of reliable real-time and archival instruments to study sounds made or heard by marine mammals and fish. These new sensors are now ...


Volunteers attempt to save Pilot whales in May

More than 20 whales die in mass beaching in New Zealand

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 27, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

More than 20 pilot whales died in a mass beaching in New Zealand Sunday while another 40 were successfully herded back to sea, conservation officials said.


Zoning the ocean may help endangered whales to recover

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 16, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists in Scotland, Canada and the US have proposed a new method to identify priority areas for whale conservation. The team's findings, published in Animal Conservation, suggest that even small protected areas, identi ...


The koala faces starvation as the nutritional quality of eucalyptus leaves declines, the report says

Koalas, penguins at risk of extinction: study

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Climate change threatens the survival of dozens of animal species from the emperor penguin to Australian koalas, according to a report released Monday at the UN climate summit.


Crew plans to cut rope to free Hawaii whale (AP)

Crew plans to cut rope to free Hawaii whale

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- Marine sanctuary officials planned to return to Hawaii waters with modified equipment Friday to try to cut loose a young humpback whale entangled in several hundred yards of heavy plastic rope.


Unknowlingly consuming endangered tuna

Unknowlingly consuming endangered tuna

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2

While most of us would never willingly consume a highly endangered species, doing so might be as easy as plucking sushi from a bento box. New genetic detective work from the Sackler Institute for Comparative ...


elephant seal

Elephant seals take naps while diving

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0 weblog

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study may have solved the long-standing question of how elephants sleep during their long migrations at sea, when they can be away from land for up to eight months.


Whales are polite conversationalists

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 26, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

What do a West African drummer and a sperm whale have in common? According to some reports, they can both spot rhythms in the chatter of an ocean crowded with the calls of marine mammals -- a feat impossible for the untrained ...


Whale-sized genetic study largest ever for southern hemisphere humpbacks

Whale-sized genetic study largest ever for southern hemisphere humpbacks

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

After 15 years of research in the waters of the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and an international coalition of ...