Scientists tracked a young #whale's journey before he vanished. What they learned could help save his species.
#Bishop’s story, from birth to presumed death, shows the extreme danger facing right #whales, which could be extinct in 3 decades if they continue to disappear at the present rate. Bishop’s species is not doomed to #extinction …but time is running out.
In most ways #Bishop was a normal #RightWhale. For the first year of his life, his mother nursed & protected him, & he learned to feed by swimming, mouth agape, through patches of plankton floating near the surface.
But on Jan 20, 2015, Bishop became something more: a precious source of data that would help scientists better understand the dangers afflicting his species.
So far this year, a dead female turned up off Virginia w/ a dislocated spine, a calf was discovered in Georgia w/head lacerations, & a young female was found — again in Georgia — w/ a fractured skull. All the injuries are consistent with #vessel strikes.
"Bishop’s story, from birth to presumed death, shows the extreme danger facing right #whales, which could be #extinct in three decades if they continue to disappear at the present rate.
A Spiny Starfish (Marthasterias glacialis), a Common Starfish (Asterias rubens) and a Broad Clawed Porcelain Crab (Porcellana platycheles) holding hands/legs.
County Clare, Ireland.
A particularly vibrant colored fragment of a Purple sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) shell. The dots are like small ball joints where it's spines were attached.
County Clare, Ireland.