Patagonia’s penguins at risk from proposed coal mine

Last month Chile’s government approved a controversial coal mine project in southern Patagonia’s Riesco Island, despite opposition from local residents and environmental groups, including Oceana.

Marine conservation group Oceana presented a report to Chile’s environmental ministry outlining the threats facing mammals and birds in the region, including the area’s most emblematic seabird, the Magellanic penguin. The threats from the mine include heavy metal pollution (such as mercury), oil spills, and boat collisions with marine mammals.

Riesco Island is part of Chile’s Alacalufes National Reserve, which is home to an important colony of Magellanic penguins – around 10 million of the seabirds live around the island. The island and its surroundings are also home to at least 27 species of bird and 7 marine mammal species, including humpbacks. One of the region’s waterways, Otway sound, is one of the only places on the Chilean coast where the Chilean dolphin, bottlenose dolphin and southern dolphin can all be found.

The heavy metals released by coal mining would affect seabirds’ reproduction, especially the penguins. Oil spills can contaminate the eggs, cause death by inhalation and ingestion, and loss of feather waterproofing, which can lead to hypothermia.

rhamphotheca:

Thousands of Walrus Begin Early Haul-Out in Alaska

by Wynne Parry

Prompted by receding Arctic sea ice, walruses have begun hauling out on the Alaskan shore by the thousands. In recent years, walrus migrations have happened on an unprecedented scale with the animals coming ashore in greater numbers, in new places, and at times not seen before. Last year, as many as 20,000 walruses hauled out on the Alaskan shoreline of the Chukchi Sea, near Point Lay, according to the World Wildlife Fund. 

This year, the mass migration began three weeks earlier than last year, with a handful of walruses tagged by the United State Geological Survey heading to shore as early as Aug. 7. Then on Wednesday (Aug. 17), about 8,000 were spotted on or near a beach north of Point Lay, the Associated Press reported.

“These dangerously large walrus haul-outs in the Chukchi Sea are a direct result of extreme Arctic sea- ice melt caused by climate change,” said Geoff York, an Arctic wildlife biologist with the World Wildlife Fund. “Unless carbon pollution is dramatically reduced, walruses, polar bears and even people in the Arctic will face a much more perilous future than they do already.”…

(read more: Live Science)  

(photo: Blaine Thorn (National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
)

Sea Turtle GPS Shows Ocean-Spanning Leatherback Buffet

Where our plastic could end up

khrisjuhlin:

sexyactionplanet:

This photograph, snapped by diver Reynaldo Corral north of Manado, Sulawesi, is of an unfortunate hermit crab. Hermit crabs are not actually true crabs and therefore need the shell of a marine snail to “borrow” for protection. But due to the overcollection of shells for jewellry, souveniers and general bric-n-brac, sightings of hermit crabs resorting to rubbish is becoming increasingly common. Although shells are beautiful, please do not collect or buy them. They exist for many reasons including a home for hermit crabs - not dust collectors.

Oh when I see images like these… my blood pressure increases.

A pregnant female whale shark is a juicy mental picture indeed.  I mean, if the whale shark is the largest of all fishes, how gargantuan must be a big ol’ mama, turgid with a teeming horde of spotty little kiddies?  And what must it be like when that next generation finally bursts forth into the world, all 25 dozen of them?  Well, Dr. Schmidt has some slightly disappointing news: they probably don’t erupt quite so dramatically.  That’s because the offspring they studied covered the full gamut of developmental stages from barely-formed, to ready-to-pop little mini-adults. That means the female likely gives birth over an extended period, releasing a few here and few there as each embryo reaches maturity.  This result implies that pregnancy might be a very prolonged affair in whale sharks, and it also raises the possibility of multiple paternity: the idea that different embryos might come from different matings with different males.

Stuff I’ve seen

The yellow lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina, is the most common of sea krait species, however they are still a relatively uncommon sight in the waters off Tioman. In my time here I have seen only 3 and last week saw the biggest one of these hunting over the staghorn coral off Pulau Tulai. 

So these amphibious reptiles spend the majority of their time in the water, popping up every now and again to take a breath of air. They have laterally flattened paddle like tails, an adaptation which allows them to move through the water with ease. They also have valves on their nostrils so they can close them when they dive. Although they are well adapted to their ocean lives they do also come up onto land. Unlike most sea snakes, that are viviparous, the female yellow lipped krait lays around 4-20 eggs per nest buried in the vegetation on small islands. They also come onto land to shed their skins, digest food, or to just have a little rest.

The venom of a yellow lipped sea krait is neurotoxic and is ten times more lethal than that of it’s terrestrial cousins the rattle snake or black mamba. But luckily enough sea kraits are pretty chilled out and non-aggressive so it’s no problem floating at a safe distance watching them go about their business.