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63 About this deal
A few weeks after the event many of us gathered to attend an online event to discuss the Sea Watch Foundation’s preliminary data. Seven species of whales, dolphins and porpoises were recorded over the weeks: The San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network. For animals that strand deceased, we often conduct necropsies. This helps us understand why the animal died and what health issues might be present in the marine ecosystem. If you can’t decide which of our adorable animals you want to adopt, you may be interested in becoming a Born Free supporter by setting up a monthly donation. The money we receive from our regular donations is unrestricted, and allows us to support the projects that need it the most. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Dolphins and whales are closely related. Orcas were given the name ‘killer whale’ by ancient sailors’ observations of groups of orcas hunting and preying on larger whale species. Their Latin name, Orcinus orca, also reflects this observation of orcas feeding on large whales. Orcinus translates to ‘of the kingdom of the dead,’ and orca refers to a kind of whale. We know that orcas are top predators, yes, but not the vicious ‘whale killers’ that the ancient mariners thought them to be. If you could give orcas another name, what would you call them? What do orcas eat?
Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) suffer physically and mentally from life in captivity. The physical, sensory and social environment in which these animals have evolved to live contrasts dramatically with the restricted and barren tanks found in dolphinaria, where cetaceans are held for viewing or performance to entertain visitors. How Born Free is working on this issue Having multiple prey items to choose from probably led to the niche specialisations we see today – millions of year ago, different groups started eating different things to avoid competing for the same food. Now these groups are genetically different, in addition to their unique appearance and cultures.It was nearly a decade later before Mousa was positively identified in Shetland as she and her pod were seen cruising through Mousa Sound in 2008 – hence her name. Since then, she has been a regular seasonal visitor to Scottish shores. Even as I write this word reaches me from Katie, my WDC colleague in the Moray Firth, that Mousa, together with her three kids, Gunnar, Summer and Tide have just been spotted off Lossiemouth and only a few miles along the coast from our Scottish Dolphin Centre where they are more accustomed to spotting bottlenose dolphins. No discussion on the seasonal movement of orcas around Britain would be complete without discussing our Viking visitors! Over the years the Icelandic Orca Project has catalogued well over 400 orcas and one fascinating story to come out of a photo ID comparison between Scotland and Iceland is the fact that a small percentage of this population regularly make the 1400 km journey each spring, leaving the herring behind to hunt for seals off the Scottish coast.
Scientists now recognise several kinds of orcas (called ecotypes). They hunt specific prey and live in different parts of the world. Find out more about them. What threats do orcas face?Born Free is a member of the Dolphinaria-Free Europe coalition, established in 2014, representing a global community of NGOs and professionals working together on behalf of cetaceans throughout Europe. Born Free works to raise awareness of poor conditions and encourage an informed public to consider directing their support away from keeping cetaceans in captivity. We are proud to have rescued individual captive cetaceans, rehabilitating them and safely returning them to the wild, and we support the development of high-quality sanctuaries to provide improved lifetime care for cetaceans currently in captivity who cannot be released to the wild. What you can do to help Linkedin set this cookie to store information about the time a sync took place with the lms_analytics cookie. A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. This orca community numbers only just over 300 individuals, and they specialise in hunting salmon, so their movements are influenced by the salmons’ seasonal migrations. Their range is huge as they roam the entire coastline of British Columbia and beyond into southeast Alaska. They live in closely bonded family groups of mothers, sons and daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. It is a matriarchal culture and females are the family leaders.
Orcas worldwide face a number of threats. They get caught in fishing nets and gear accidentally, face problems with toxic waste and pollution in the sea. Increase in boat traffic can result in collisions with orcas and an increase in underwater noise pollution.For many people it is a lifelong dream to swim with dolphins. However, Born Free is convinced that few people would partake in the practice if they knew that such interactions could be highly stressful and damaging for the animals. In 2011, Born Free and Whale and Dolphin Conservation published the results of investigations into the status and performance of 18 dolphinaria across the EU. It revealed that dolphinaria were generally failing to meet the requirements of EU legislation, which aims to protect whales and dolphins in captivity. Captive cetaceans are often used in swim-with programmes throughout the day, as well as performing in shows. They may also be used for visitor souvenir photographs, during which the animals may be trained to jump out and ‘beach’ themselves on the edge of the concrete pool.
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