The Finless Porpoise
16,306 species of animals are endangered or threatened with extinction. One of these critically endangered animals is the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena Asiaeorientalis). There are only 1040 finless porpoises in the Yangtze, 13% of these are expected to become extinct within 10 years. When finless porpoises are born the colouring is black, after 6 months turns grey, however there lighter patches around the mouth. Finless porpoises can weigh up to 72kg and 2.27 m in length. The flippers of the porpoise are at least 20% of the body length in total. There are 3 subspecies of the finless porpoise: finless porpoise (Indian Ocean), finless porpoise (West Pacific) and the finless porpoise (Yangtze). They are found in warm
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Hunting was an issue in Japan mainly in the East China Sea. Nevertheless it has not been such an issue since the 1980’s. Sometimes Finless porpoises are caught accidently in fishing nets, the worst net for them to be caught in is a gill net. The hunting in japan and the getting caught in net are not problems that often but it happened a lot around 1985-1992. Pollution is one of the issues which are allowing yet another cetacean animal to be extinct. The Yangtze River carries 40% of Chinas human population. Power plants, factories, and cities also surround the Yangtze River. According to WWF (World Wildlife Fund) 25 billion tons of waste of sewage discharge and industrial discharge is in the Yangtze River each year. Finless porpoises use the navigation system sonar to sense movement, shape, objects, where food is, families and directions. Considering there is a lot of shipping along the Yangtze River it generates acoustic pollution and this distresses the porpoises sonar. Meaning that the finless porpoises are not able to find food easily, also because they are not able to find where ships are it creates collisions between the ship and the animal. This is also known as ship striking or ship strike. The main conflict factor of them all is overfishing along the rivers and lakes. This means the Finless porpoise’s food sources have deteriorated. Finless porpoises need a …show more content…
One solution thought of is moving the Finless porpoises to a safer and cleaner environment but this would be extremely difficult. A reasonable solution is for the Chinese government to pass laws to reduce industrial pollution. This would be a good solution because if the water were less polluted then there would be more fish. Another solution would to reduce fishing in places where the endangered animals are, to allow more food for the finless porpoises. A last solution, which may not work, would to have captive breading to allow the species to repopulate. Luckily most of these solutions are being worked on by organizations like WWF. WWF and other organizations are helping save the Finless porpoise The Director of WWF China's Freshwater Program wanted to take immediate action to keep the finless porpoises safe and to keep the lakes and Yangtze River clean. Even though the river can’t be healthy over night the finless porpoise still needs to be safe. They are trying to restore lots of areas covered water to advance water efficiency of industrial parks and to reduce pollution. They have made migration to lakes and river by creating around 40 floodplain lakes for the animals in the Yangtze
Everything turns a beautiful blue. Sights, sounds, touch, and mind-sets are changed. Creativity flows freely from your mind to the hand to the pen and to the paper. This blue is "the blue that knows you and where you live and it's never going to forget"(107). The blue is the fix and excitement an addict gets from drugs. Addicts look for an escape. They feel that if they just have that hit they will enjoy life and its experiences to a fuller extent. In Kate Braverman's short story "Tall Tales From the Mekong Delta," she describes one woman's struggle with drugs and how she eventually turns back to them after being sober for so many years. Through examining the changing appearance of Lenny, her longing for escape from every day life, and the use of blue and green, it is evident that her temptations will get the better of her and destroy all that she tries to maintain when sober.
In the past twenty years a large amount of bottlenose dolphin have been killed due to the tuna fishery. In the Eastern Pacific swim large schools of tuna, these shoals tend to be under herds of dolphins, for some unexplained reason. Because of this, fishermen can easily find schools of tuna. The tuna are being caught under purse seine nets, which encircles the shoals of tuna and then is pulled back on board the fishing vessel, catching both tuna and dolphin. Initially the mortality rate was 500,000 each year for dolphins alone. Although some efforts are made to encourage the dolphins to leave the net by backing down part of the net, which allows the dolphins to escape, there are still a large number of mortalities (Bryant). On the other hand, in the last few years there has been dramatic progress in stopping the fishing industries from using purse sine nets. It has been found that dolphins are in immediate danger of extinction if these fishing techniques don’t stop.
When an intelligent animal accustomed to swimming in thousands of miles of open ocean is placed in an environment only twice its size, is separated from its species, and is forced to perform tricks, there are bound to be consequences. The captivity of these animals should be banned and National Reserves and whale tours should be used to educate the public while admiring these animals' true beauty. There are few experiences more meaningful than witnessing a killer whale enjoying the freedom of the open ocean.
...d the economic, ethical, and practical aspects of international regulation. Different views of ecology, culture, and legitimacy as they pertain to a valued resource and its exploitation for human purposes. While it is safe to say one must preserve the historical and cultural value of whaling nations and nations around the world, it can also be said of animals. While many nations continue to cling to their cultural ancestry background of whaling and the right for scientific research, it is proven that such human endeavors must be carefully and faithfully regulated. Commercial whaling has essentially seized to exist in the clear claims of such, but Japan and other nations are ever so slightly getting closer to that boundary. “We should remember in our dealings with animals that they are a sacred trust to us…[They] cannot speak for themselves” (Harriet Beecher Stowe).
As a result, their habitat is being destroyed, leaving them with no place to live and to nest their young. They are also being disturbed by human activities near their habitat.
Overfishing is defined as a form of overexploitation where fish stocks are brought down to unacceptable levels. In the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2 yearly report (SOFIA), it states how over half of the fish stocks, worldwide, are fully exploited. Other research has shown it only takes 10-15 years of industrial fishing to obliterate a tenth of the intended specie. Overfishing causes a ripple effect that hurts the entire ecosystem. The balance of chain depends largely on the interaction between the predator and the prey. For example, if the larger fish are removed than its prey begins to overpopulate, due to the lack of population control. The balance in the oceans are a urgent problem, around 90% of predatory fish stocks are depleted. The ripples can extend even further to land creatures like
The Guadalupe fur seal is a mammal who is endangered. These seals are very rare and are famous for their fur. Guadalupe fur seals were once considered extinct but have been rediscovered in 1954. This mammal is now fully protected and there’s a slim chance for them to go extinct for a while.
I chose dolphins because they are such elegant creatures, even though wild dolphins are often dangerous. Dolphins are my favorite creatures in the world, and people ought to respect them more.
McLendon, Russell. "10 of the Most Endangered Whales on Earth." MNN. N.p., 23 June 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
How do we start saving the sea otters? Well I think that we should start by strictly regulating the oil tankers, maybe have fish and game on the boats with them at all times to stop some of the crashes or leaks. We need to also figure out a way to stop people from littering into our waterways. I was thinking maybe close off the passages along the street so adults and children don’t even have the opportunity to litter in these waterways.
In this research report I will discuss the Killer Whales unique characteristics; complex migratory patterns, how and why it is endangered, and most importantly how we can help them.
Dolphins and porpoises are known as mammals with each possessing their own unique qualities and differences. Dolphins are known for their unique abilities in communicating, entertaining and fascinating humans. These abilities posses by dolphins pale in comparison when considering the important features of dolphins, all of which allows this mammal to survive in oceanic waters and perform entertaining leaps. Based on the article's information and facts about Dolphins, dolphins is the only mammal that gives birth with the tail first instead of the head and young dolphins remain with their mother for a period of two or three years.
After watching several documentaries on how poorly killer whales are treated in captivity, it drew me into researching more information on the treatment of Killer whales that are kept in captivity. I found several scientific journals, and articles on wild life facts of killer whales and I found published books on the treatment of killer whales in captivity. The information I found includes both wild killer whales and killer whales kept in captivity. With the information I found, I plan to prove the shortened lifespan and health problems killer whales get while living in captivity are not normal. In fact the information you learned about killer whales from aquariums and commercial parks are false. This paper will argue why killer whales should not be held captive in commercial parks. This Paper will include information on the killer whale’s diet, the killer whale’s communication, and the killer whale’s physical traits.
Many animals, such as Winter the dolphin, have inspired great innovations in human prosthetics. After Winter lost her tale in a crab trap accident scientist began creating a custom prosthetics. While in the process they created a rubbery sock made of thermoplastic elastomer, now called Winter’s gel. Today this is used with a number of patients as a less irritating version of prosthetic liner. It is especially helpful for amputee athletes as it doesn’t slip when it gets
Many of the methods used in commercial fishing are very destructive to the aquatic systems. Industrial ocean trawlers scrape the bottom of the water, often dragging up the seafloor with them. This destroys the habitat and kills many of the bottom dwelling organisms that are vulnerable to these practices. There is also a large amount of marine animals that are unintentionally caught by the large nets. These animals are considered bycatch, having no value to fishermen and are usually killed. These large fishing vessels also add a significant amount of pollution to the water. Fishing vessels cause oil spills as well as discharging chemical elements and wastes into the water. The thousands of of trawlers that pass through Japanese waters create large quantities of water pollution that can devastate aquatic life by changing the chemical composition of the water and affecting all the organisms that inhabit these