A population of humpback whales migrates each year from the Southern Ocean to Great Barrier Reef Waters. It passes just to the east of where I live, in Brisbane, and most years* it includes the world’s only known white humpback – Migaloo.
Migaloo passed us by just last week and Dr Noad, who counts whales, reported that the population is the fastest growing whale population in the world. And he claims to have the the longest and most consistent series of whale surveys in the world.
Read the complete article here: http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=12363
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* In 2003 Migaloo went up the west coast of Australia – perhaps by mistake.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
By 2020 this population should be fully recovered. It will be interesting to see what happens to it.
So-called unusual mortality events in other stocks have seen large numbers of whale deaths due to starvation after hitting their natural carrying capacity.
Surely this sudden growth in a population of whale species signals something is terribly wrong.
In Britain, there is a resurgence of bird species which have not been seen for a long time.
This is more proof of the horrible impact of global warming.
The question is, can we contain the explosive growth of the whale population with punitive taxes on automobiles and houses, or should we acknowledge the planetary emergency, and our commitment to fixing things as fast as we can, by shooting the whales?
It’s a moral issue, and we shouldn’t let the lives of whales stand between us and our sacred goal.
This article belongs to the thread about whale’s intelligence but I’ll post it here anyway.
” Dolphins can get pretty nasty and one dolphin trainer used to be punched by dolphins so his face looks like a hockey players”.
” I like dolphins, but not dolphin-huggers” says one shark researcher.
” Dolphins are smart , but they do as well many unsmart things”.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/cva/ric/news/state.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-07-01-0234.html
Hhmmn, So this white whale was part of the Western Australian population one year? It was easily identified by it’s colour but what about the rest? How many of them have opted for a change of scene for the summer break? How many of the supposedly “at risk” pacific islands population have simply done what most of the Cook Islands Maori have done, ie, moved to the mainland for better prospects?
And how many of them head north on a course that does not come within a few Km of Pt Danger where most of the population count is taken?
A report in yesterdays Courier Mail indicated that the counting only takes place over 10 hours each day so what is done about the others that pass overnight?
Ian,
As for the abundance estimates, I seem to recall that figures are extrapolated to account for “invisible” whales, including those that are not seen because no one is looking at the time.
At the below link Dr. Noad is quoted comparing humpbacks to rabbits due to their prolific breeding.
http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,23483,21976058-27977,00.html?from=mostpop
I take it thus that rabbits are well regarded in Australia, unlike cockroaches and kangaroos 🙂
I checked out the GP forum.
As usual supporters were complaining that the Icelanders were eating minke beef and not other meat.
One Icelander said something along the line ” please don’t start the ” cruel” and ” endangered” talk again, it only amuses us and you look like clowns.
I tend to agree…if you talk the talk , you better walk the walk as well… my point : you better be a vegetarian!
” Japan plans to kill 50 humpbacks in Southern waters next year. The Japanese do not understand how we can allow kangaroo shooting while wanting the whales protected. For us, the whales are the equivalent of the cherry blossom festival, and killing the whales is the same as bulldozing cherry trees.”
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/rc20070704a4.html
Hahaha, good try from an Aussie that doesn’t have a clue!
There are plenty of cherry blossom trees in Japan, more than enough for some to be watched and others to be chopped down 🙂
This lady should be bitching at her own government for it’s “win or lose but goddammnit no compromises” approach to the issue.
I seem to recall that this robustly expanding population also has a strong weighting of males. Can this mean that some of the less robustly growing populations have an excess of females, exhibiting the breeding attributes of a girls school, ie, lots of talk and little action. Or maybe the girls just opted for a trip to Shark Bay that year?
David, Ann is from Sweden, she is welcome here in Godzone any time, even if she does talk crap about cherry trees.
Ian,
I know, I was talking about the Aussie from Mandurah who wrote to the Japan Times, not our Ann 🙂
“* In 2003 Migaloo went up the west coast of Australia – perhaps by mistake”
Where did this information come from Jennifer? This animal has been regularly sighted off the EAST coast of Australia since 1992. To my knowledge he has never been sighted off WA.
“And how many of them head north on a course that does not come within a few Km of Pt Danger where most of the population count is taken?”
Should you care to read scientific publications you would see that modelling takes things like whales passing further offshore, poor visibility, or whales passing at night into consideration. Amazing that scientists can actually take these things into consideration, isn’t it?
“I seem to recall that this robustly expanding population also has a strong weighting of males. Can this mean that some of the less robustly growing populations have an excess of females, exhibiting the breeding attributes of a girls school, ie, lots of talk and little action. Or maybe the girls just opted for a trip to Shark Bay that year?”
Try googling or reading those journal articles instead of lame sexist jokes. I could give you this information but see little point when it will be instantly dismissed.
Ann, aren’t you lucky that although you “talk crap about cherry trees” you are officially welcomed here? Such respect knows no bounds!
” Ann, aren’t you lucky that although you “talk crap about cherry trees” you are officially welcomed here? ” –Libby
Well, it kind of feels safe that I now know that I have Ian’s blessing to visit Australia, but maybe you Libby, Luke and Travis think I’m a blood thirsty Viking who will have the opportunity ( anyway a 50-50 % ) chance to eat your humpbacks!!!!
Here’s an article from a village in Indonesia , where they kill sperm whales with their bare hands! Actually methinks maybe this article could be a good new thread about whaling:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=465987&in_page_id=1811
Small women with frowns, beheading daisys with a stick. Apologies to WH Auden.
Speaking of white whales and Indonesia…
>Here’s an article from a village in Indonesia , where they kill sperm whales with their bare hands! Actually methinks maybe this article could be a good new thread about whaling:
In Lamalera they harpoon cetaceans, whale sharks and mantas. Killing them with their bare hands is a bit far-fetched, but it is certainly the most ‘basic’ killing of large cetaceans left in the world. I have a lovely minature replica of one of the boats they use.
Today I saw two belugas (white whales) at Jakarta’s sea courtyard amusement park. There was no simulation of their natural environment and the water would have been at least 24C. So I guess these whales are just as adaptable as Seaworld Australia’s polar bears to any possible effects from AGW. Oh, that’s right, those polar bears have chilled water….I would be amazed if the belugas were still alive in a year’s time.
Careful Ann, seems like Ian now has you being brutal to daisies as well as ignorant about cherry trees.
” Careful Ann, seems like Ian now has you being brutal to daisies as well as ignorant about cherry trees. ” – Travis
Hi Travis,
Thanks for the clarification….I have actually been wondering what Ian meant( this was probably too subtle for me). Guessed though that it must have been something a bit nasty!!!!
Re the belugas. It is strange that amusement parks in tropical countries keep belugas ( that are Arctic whales). Probably they feel like hell…
>It is strange that amusement parks in tropical countries keep belugas ( that are Arctic whales). Stranger is how they would have come about getting them in the first place. It is highly unlikely they were bought, so they were either given (unlikely too) or traded. Having visited one animal market here and seen what is on offer, perhaps the beluga traders got a couple of orangutans, slow loris, Javan scops owls and a pair of leopard cat kittens. Maybe a Komodo dragon thrown in to keep the relationship open. However, I’m sure that the animals would have been in better condition than the ones I saw on offer, but maybe a dead beluga in a few months is worth a dead orangutan in equal time?
>Probably they feel like hell…
Probably. I certainly did just watching them (and the sun bear riding the bike, dolphins getting smacked and the emaciated South American sea lion).
Travis,
Do you know if the belugas were born in captivity or were they born in the wild???
Methinks Russia allows trade in belugas and orcas.
The EU allows trade in belugas for research and captivity breeding, this opens up many loopholes.
Well, it can’t be funny for Arctic animals to live in tropical countries and vice versa! ( or to live in a zoo at all).
I heard btw that elephants in a circus in Siberia got booze to drink when it was too cold , to keep them warm!!!
Miss Mahorasy,
We are two year 3 students at St Francis College in Crestmead. We saw a picture in the Courier Mail about Migaloo. We are now researching all that we can find about Migaloo and his two friends he travels with.
Thomas and Jayden