Cetaceans

Love Killer Whales? Why not have a Killer Whale announce your incoming calls?

We created this ringtone from a recording made by The Whale Museum, thanks to the help of researcher Kari Koski.  

Download the ringtone for iPhone.

(Right-Click on the link -- or Control-Click on a mac.) 

Technical Note: Firefox handles the download properly. Safari on the Mac downloads a useless file. We're way beyond our geek threshold in terms of why this might be happening.

Click here to listen to the ringtone before downloading. (Works in most browsers.) That's an MP3 you can also download for use as a ringtone on Android.  

This ringtone works on iPhones. It MIGHT work on Android and other phones. If you're an Android user and want to test it for us, let us know if it works. And if you're an Android guru and can help us create the right kind of file and write the installation instructions, definitely get in touch. 

Here's how to install the ringtone on your iPhone:

1. Download the file to your computer.
2. Drag it onto your iTunes icon in the dock. iTunes will put it in the "ringtones" area.
3. Sync your phone with your computer
4. Go to Settings > Sound and choose the ringtone as your default ring, or add it to particular contacts. 
5. You can also use the ringtone as an alarm chime.

Unfortunately, we're not able to provide technical support for installing the ringtone. If you get stuck, try a Google search, as several websites have illustrated guides to adding ringtones to your phone. 

Don't miss our harbor seal ringtone.

Photo courtesy S. Buckley.

In January 2012, Joe Gaydos gave a talk at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, FL, entitled, "Whale Tales: Cetacean Stranding Response and Medicine in the Pacific Northwest."

The talk is fairly technical (after all, the audience was all veterinarians), but Joe livened it up with a few videos of exploding whales.

Seriously. 

As the whales decompose, gasses build up inside the body cavity. If the pressure isn't released properly, the whale bursts. Sometimes this happens when someone cuts into the carcass (watch video). But it can also happen spontaneously, as with this whale being transported through a city in Taiwan (watch video). 

See all the exploding whale videos we collected on our YouTube channel.

Here are a few highlights from the full talk:

"Stranded marine mammal carcasses once were used as food and some of the first laws enacted in New England Colonies were to establish the ownership of beached whale carcasses. Later stranded marine mammals provided animals for museums, live displays and scientific information about little-known species. Today they still provide us with important data on marine mammals and marine mammal populations. Strandings help us to document range expansions for marine mammal species and provide details on marine mammal growth rates, age at maturity, gestation, reproductive season and longevity. Stranded marine mammals also help expand our understanding of marine mammal mortality factors including infectious diseases, toxins and human-caused mortality."

"Strandings have increased from an annual stranding rate of approximately 1.5 cetaceans/year from the 1930’s through the 1970’s to nearly 36 per year from the 1980’s through the current decade. 2 This trend of increased reported strandings corresponds to the formation of a formal stranding network and a heightened interest and dedication by the public and government agencies in reporting and documenting strandings."

"Marine mammals are important sentinel species that tell us about potential negative impacts on animal and marine ecosystem health and ultimately allow us to better understand, manage or mitigate anthropogenic stressors.3 Cetaceans are charismatic species that stimulate great interest in people. They have long life spans, are long-term coastal residents, feed at a high trophic level, and have unique fat stores that can serve as depots for anthropogenic toxins. They also are exposed to environmental stressors such as chemical pollutants, harmful algal biotoxins, and emerging or resurging pathogens, most of which can impact people. Understanding the health of marine mammals ultimately allows us to better conserve their populations, design a healthy ocean and improve and protect human health. Over the past several decades, many important diseases and toxins have been diagnosed in marine mammals that are important to marine mammal conservation and human health or tell us something about the health of our marine ecosystem."

"Veterinarians often play an important role in responding to live and dead stranded cetaceans. For dead animals, they are able to conduct or lead necropsies. When live animals strand, veterinarians help to assess condition determine the level of interaction required and ultimately help treat animals taken into captivity. In 2009 the National Marine Fisheries Service developed a protocol for responding to live marine mammal strandings. These protocols balance the need for standardized procedures while allowing flexibility to address specific needs of different situations for diverse species and habitats, as well as unforeseen circumstances. Veterinarians work with the NMFS and stranding networks to help determine (1) What are the species and group composition involved in the event? (2) Is the situation caused by human activities or a natural event? And (3) Are resources available to ensure the safety and welfare of both the animals and the responders? Intervention can be dangerous for the animals and human responders and response operations are only approved if it will be safe for the animals, stranding responders and the public."

Photo Credit: ShaneAH via Flickr: Creative Commons license

In 2006–2007, an unusually high number of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) stranded along the Washington and Oregon coastlines.

Spatiotemporal analyses were used to examine their ability to detect clusters of porpoise strandings during an unusual mortality event (UME) in the Pacific Northwest using stranding location data.

Strandings were evaluated as two separate populations, outer coast and inland waters. The presence of global clustering was evaluated using the Knox spatiotem- poral test, and the presence of local clusters was investigated using a spatiotemporal scan statistic (space–time permutation). There was evidence of global clustering, but no local clustering, supporting the hypothesis that strandings were due to more varied etiologies instead of localized causes.

Further analyses at subregional levels, and concurrently assessing environmental factors, might reveal additional geographic distribution patterns. This article describes the spatial analytical tools applied in this study and how they can help elucidate the spatiotemporal epidemi- ology of other UMEs and assist in determining their causes. More than one spatial analytical technique should be used if the study objective is to detect and describe clustering in time and space and to generate hypotheses regarding causation of marine mammal disease and stranding events.

SeaDoc's Joe Gaydos is a co-author on the paper. Find it at http://www.seadocsociety.org/node/606