1,419 results
1,419 results for: Whales
- Animals
Narwhal has the strangest tooth in the sea
Sometimes called the unicorn of the sea, the male narwhal’s tusk is actually a tooth. Narwhals detect changes in water salinity using only these tusks, a new study finds.
- Animals
Small sperm whale species share a diet
Dwarf and pygmy species of sperm whales overlap in what they eat, and that could be a problem as the food web changes around them.
- Oceans
The surprising life of a piece of sunken wood
Timber and trees that wash out to sea and sink to the bottom of the ocean hold a diverse community of organisms.
- Animals
Oops. Woodpecker raps were actually gunshots
The knock-knock noises recorded last winter that raised hopes for rediscovering the long-lost ivory-billed woodpecker in Louisiana turn out to have been gunshots instead of bird noises.
- Earth
Undersea volcano: Heard but not seen
The search is on for an undersea eruption near the Japanese volcanic island chain.
-
How whales, dolphins, seals dive so deep
The blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, Weddell seal, and elephant seal cut diving energy costs 10 to 50 percent by simply gliding downward.
- Paleontology
. . . and the big bird that didn’t
The California condor, one of today's largest and rarest birds, may have survived the last ice age because of its varied diet.
-
Whalebones show damage from diving
Long-lived sperm whales typically develop bone damage not previously observed in marine mammals but found in some human divers who surface quickly or dive frequently.
- Earth
Natural or Synthetic? Test reveals origin of chemicals in blubber
Natural compounds that are chemically akin to certain industrial chemicals wend their way up marine food chains and accumulate in whale blubber.
- Animals
The Old Crowd: Minke whales have long thrived in Antarctic seas
Genetic studies of whale meat from Tokyo grocery stores appear to strengthen the case for protecting Antarctica's minke whales against renewed hunting.
- Earth
Ancient whalers altered arctic lakes
Analyses of sediment and water samples taken from an arctic lake indicate that an ancient whaling community left a mark on the lake’s ecosystem that persists today, even though the settlement was abandoned more than 400 years ago.
- Animals
Din among the Orcas: Are whale watchers making too much noise?
Whale-watching boats may be making so much noise that killer whales off the coast of Washington have to change their calls to communicate over the racket.
