Whales: Want anchovies? Open up!

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A Bryde’s whale and seagulls feast on anchovies in the Gulf of Thailand, on September 9, 2014.

Bryde’s whales are a baleen medium seized whale with dark grey colour and a white underbelly and live in tropical to temperate waters. An estimated population of 30 to 35 Bryde’s whales are commonly seen along the upper Gulf of Thailand coastlines, between March and October.

The Bryde’s whale is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which prohibits international trade of any parts of the animal. (photo: EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT)

Whales: Plastic in the gut – it’s a killer

A grey whale comes ashore, dead with plastics in his system.
A grey whale comes ashore, dead with plastics in his system.

Ever since I met Captain Charles Moore a few years ago (he came to San Juan Island for a rousing talk), I’ve had plastics on the brain. If you haven’t seen his here’s-everything-in-a-nutshell TED talk, check it here.

The amount of plastic in the world’s oceans is staggering, and it makes its way into the animals who live there. I’m happy to see that people like Angela Sun are making documentaries about this (here’s her trailer for her film, Plastic Paradise):

Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Trailer from Angela Sun on Vimeo.

This is not isolated to any one part of the world – it is everywhere. The whale in the photo above died because it was filled with plastic waste, and there’s a lesson in its death about the direction it – and we – as a species are headed.

Here’s the rest of the story, from CS Globe.