Two hopeful news stories on the same page in the Times today! This one, and the one above (in the print version) about how more Americans are beginning to get climate change/global warming. Got Right Whales! Go those humans who are recognizing that other humans, including our president and his friends and his "advisors"
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a much-needed seedling of optimism. oh, i love this news. i hope we do see the 10-15 calves that are hoped for... wouldn't that be amazing? thanks for reporting on these incredible creatures.
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And trump recently moved to permit using "air guns" or "sound guns" to search for oil off the U.S. Atlantic coast, thereby likely endangering the survival of the calves.
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There is not enough left to eat, and when they do feed, they will literally be eating plastic bits trapped in their baleen plates. They don't stand a chance. They will be extinct in 20 years like 50% of the world's plant and animal species. Global warming is Nature's defense against the parasites into which Homo Sapiens has devolved. Symbiosis has changed into parasitism and we are killing our host quickly. In an ironic twist, Trump may be Mother Nature's best ally if his policies rid the planet of Evolution's mistake: Mankind.
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Gestation and rearing the offspring require extra calories, ergo, more food. Climate change has radically distorting the food chain. This wonderful sea mammal is sensitive to food scarcity. Its long interval breeding cycle with one offspring each gestation will not help to its survival. A single offspring does not not provide the survival genetic changes/mutations. In contrast, multiple offsprings give that advantage of genetic combinations . One may argue that human gestation gives to one offspring in general and apparently dominates the planet. Even with one offspring, the mathematical permutations and combinations of 7.7 billion people, as of 2019 and counting, give an almost infinite genetic mutations/changes to its survival. But this advantage may not last long if we do not protect that very thin biosphere layer enveloping this planet.
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@Uly
Thanks Uly. There's no getting around that 7.7 issue - until of course it becomes 7.8...
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“It’s a pause in the bad news. We don’t know how long the pause will be.”
Translation: We need another grant. Or three.
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Translation: we do not need more money because the monitoring program is already in place, but this whale population remains highly endangered so methods to minimize deaths remain vitally important.
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Right whale on! Hooray! Amen!
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My God: the New York State Senate just legalized abortion up to the moment of birth as state public policy, and we're worried about the lack of offspring among whales.
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@JOHN You're right. Humans in New York State are critically endangered. Captive breeding programs are really the only option at this point.
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@JOHN You're reading the science section, if you were not aware...
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@JOHN The oceans & whales are way more important than people realize! The oceans produces over half of the world's oxygen and absorbs 50 times more carbon dioxide than our atmosphere. It provides over 97% of the world's water supply.
We need our whales, they help maintain a stable food chain, they keep the ocean from becoming overpopulated which helps to keep most the marine life from getting & spreading too many diseases. Their health, where they migrate, how often & where they breed tells us a lot about our oceans. So be grateful for our whales we still have because they play a very important role to our planet & mankind!
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