Killer whales and smoke on the water

Have you ever felt poisoned by car exhaust? Maybe in a tunnel or underground garage? That's how killer whales feel after a day of whale-watching.

Hard to believe? A new study shows that after a busy 12 hour day of nearly continuous whale-watching, killer whales suck in exhaust at levels that hurt.

Boat exhaust tends to hang on the water's surface, right where the whales breathe. And boats can be quite dirty since they're not subject to the same pollution control laws as cars. Combine this exposure with the behavior of sucking in a big breath, holding it and diving deep underwater where the pressure is high, and you have a recipe for sick whales.

According to the Vancouver Sun:

...under average conditions, killer whales have to breathe at least five times more carbon monoxide than is found 100 metres from a busy Los Angeles highway.

"That really surprised me — I didn't think it was going to be that high," said Lachmuth.

"It's because when you're out on the water there's an inversion because the ocean is so cold and in the summer the air is a lot warmer — the CO is sticking right at that interface and it's not moving vertically at all."

Ugh, I never would have expected such nasty pollution exposure for killer whales thanks to well-meaning whale watchers.

We already know that killer whales are the most contaminated wildlife on earth, thanks to eating a diet of contaminated fish. Now we can add exhaust to the list of harms.

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When endangered species eat each other

What do you do when you have one endangered species eating another endangered species?

That's the dilemma facing officials who are hoping to protect orcas (killer whales) and endangered Pacific salmon. New science shows that orcas in Puget Sound seem to prefer to munch on especially rare types of salmon, much to the chagrin of those who want to save the salmon. We can't exactly go out and kill orcas to protect salmon.

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killer whale kills trainer

There's no polite way to talk about the killer whale trainer killed by a killer whale in Florida this week. The orca pulled the trainer underwater twice and the result was the trainer drowned.

Already, some people are saying that this proves orcas shouldn't be kept in captivity and other such things. It was a tragic accident, with unknown causes, and the not-too-unlikely outcome of doing animal shows featuring people and very, very large and powerful aquatic animals.

Much more fun is the story making the rounds about actress Jennifer Garner and the dolphin that found some pleasure rubbing on her feet. Oh my. Marine mammals in the news.

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Killers killing killer whales

The killers killing salmon are now killers killing killer whales now that we have attribution of a killer whale decline to declining salmon.

We love orcas and salmon out here on the damp coast, and we're very sad to see both of our friends going missing. It's especially bad that they're in the crapper together. With outsiders blogging about this, I was reluctant to dive in. I wanted to mourn in private But this awesome picture in the PI was just too good to not steal and now I'm diving in. Here goes.

The only real question here is whether we will get serious about saving our friends. Or will we continue to write lots of plans expatiating our guilt and doing too little. We can save them if we really want to. And it doesn't necessarily have to hurt our economy or otherwise carry a high price. We just need people to live their lives as though killer whales and salmon matter to them.

We see the killers killing killer whales when we look in our mirrors. They're the same killers that are killing salmon. What shall we do about the killers that are running free in our midst?

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Orcas (killer whale) hunting dolphins

Wow, look at that picture! An orca drives a dolphin out of the water during a chase. Reporters suggest this is the first time people have ever observed orcas hunting their cousin, the dolphin.

Off South Africa, 6 people watched a group of 5 orcas cooperate in hunting and killing a dolphin. Then they got in the water with the orcas, who wouldn't?

The dolphin in the picture was a lucky one that got away, but another dolphin from the same group was later killed.

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