Whales News

The sightings, almost all of the humpbacks, have been logged by members of the group, Gotham Whale, the Guardian reported on Monday.

Japan has committed itself to not hunting whales for commercial purposes but critics say killing for research would eventually mean selling of the meat - a commercial process.

The team's analysis also found that species tend to congregate in areas that overlap "microplastic pollution hotspots", which include the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Coral Triangle in Southeast Asia.

Mass strandings occur around the world and can affect anywhere from three to several hundred animals during any given event.

Killer whales are highly cooperative, and males at the centre of a social group are likely to have better access to social information and food-sharing opportunities, the researchers said.  

Further, vocal mimicry and 'signature whistles' used by dolphins to make a call associated with an individual when they're not there, suggests they too gossip about each other.   

They found that teeth in ancient baleen whales, the ancestors of the Southern Right and Blue whale, were different to the present-day and were instead much sharper. 

According to new research from scientists, it was only recently in whale's evolutionary past that they became so enormous.

The fleet set sail for the Southern Ocean in November, with plans to slaughter 333 minke whales, flouting a worldwide moratorium and opposition led by Australia and New Zealand.

Researchers have revealed that spiders wipe out an estimated 400-800 million tonnes of prey every year, compared to an estimated 280-500 million tonnes of prey that the world's whales eat.

In total, an estimated 666 whales had been stranded at Farewell Spit, on the northern tip of the South Island, in one of the largest mass beachings recorded in New Zealand.

However they had not left the area and there were fears they could become stuck on the coastline again.

A group of about 100 volunteers, supported by three boats, successfully turned the whales away from shore by blocking their path, conservation officials said in a statement.

Although the reasons why these whales have been stranded are still unknown, the Golden Bay, which has shallow waters, is known for these kinds of incidents.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in the US, evaluated the relationship between changing sea ice and the migration of the Arctic whale also known as white whale and beluga whales.

"We are passionate about efforts to protect our planet's great whales and their ocean habitat," Brosnan said.

Eight pilot whales have died after a mass stranding on the coast of Indonesia's main island of Java that sparked a major rescue operation, an official said today.

Dr Salvatore Cerchio and his fellow researchers documented around 80 Omura’s whales off the coast of Madagascar last November.

While as many as 36 whales have been rescued by the fishermen, 45 whales have been confirmed dead.