Whale of a time!
BBC4 had a 'Whale Evening' last evening - they had a series of programs the whole evening about whales. And it was just so amazing! The idea was to promote awareness of these great animals and also highlight how man is driving these wonderful mammals to extinction by wholesale hunting a couple of hundred years ago for whale oil and for meat, and the continuing hunting today, pollution and military operations. Thse animals communicate by sonar and military sonar interferes with these cauing breaching and hence death.
NASA continues to use whale oil as a lubricant in space-ships even today. They are yet to find a man-made substitute!
I was specially moved by the program on Gray Wahles. Super-moms as the anchor of the program called these creatures, these are truly amazing.
These mammals travel 6000 miles to and fro each year(yes, 12000 miles every year) from the lagoons of the Baja Peninsula near Mexico, all the way to Bering Sea in the Arctic. They travel at a speed of 3 miles an hour and they travel non-stop for 3 months.
The whales have their babies in the Baja Peninsula and within a few months begin their epic journey back to Bering Sea, their feeding grounds. This journey takes about 3 months and the mothers have not had food for a few months. The calfs drink about 270 litres of milk from their mother each day and gain 100kg weight each day. Their epic journey is along the west coast of the United States and Canada and they pass along the coasts of San Franscisco, California, Oregon.
For the mothers this journey with the calf is also extremely dangerous as the killer whales are waiting for them and only about half the calves survive the journey.
The Gray whales do this journey twice a year. So for those of you on the West Coast, this is something you can watch!
The pastic bags in the sea are sucked in by these creatures and it affects their digestive systems. Another reason to recycle and to use as less plastic as one can!
NASA continues to use whale oil as a lubricant in space-ships even today. They are yet to find a man-made substitute!
I was specially moved by the program on Gray Wahles. Super-moms as the anchor of the program called these creatures, these are truly amazing.
These mammals travel 6000 miles to and fro each year(yes, 12000 miles every year) from the lagoons of the Baja Peninsula near Mexico, all the way to Bering Sea in the Arctic. They travel at a speed of 3 miles an hour and they travel non-stop for 3 months.
The whales have their babies in the Baja Peninsula and within a few months begin their epic journey back to Bering Sea, their feeding grounds. This journey takes about 3 months and the mothers have not had food for a few months. The calfs drink about 270 litres of milk from their mother each day and gain 100kg weight each day. Their epic journey is along the west coast of the United States and Canada and they pass along the coasts of San Franscisco, California, Oregon.
For the mothers this journey with the calf is also extremely dangerous as the killer whales are waiting for them and only about half the calves survive the journey.
The Gray whales do this journey twice a year. So for those of you on the West Coast, this is something you can watch!
The pastic bags in the sea are sucked in by these creatures and it affects their digestive systems. Another reason to recycle and to use as less plastic as one can!