Essays on Cetaceans

Luke Rendell and Hall Whitehead are the authors of this article. Rendell is a Ph.D. student at the Dalhouise Univesity. His focus is in cetacean behavior and acoustic communications. Whitehead is a professor of biology at the same university and has written several papers mostly on the behavior, ecology and conservation of whales. He is also the coordinator of field studies of dolphins and whales. I, therefore, offer a summary of the article, give my opinion and connect the article to the question “is culture unique to humans?’

Article Summary

Rendell and Whitehead describe recent research findings on the evidence of cultural transmission ...

Introduction

The great white shark is found in all major oceans around the world and is also known as the great white or white death. The great white shark belongs to the species of lamniform shark and are widely distributed all over the globe. The taxonomic name for white shark is Carolus Linnaeus. White sharks are famous for their massive size and voracious eating habits. A mature male white shark could grow up to 6.5m in length. Researches have published work stating that great white sharks grow up to 8m in length. A mature white shark would weigh around 3, ...

Many of us grew up watching dolphin and shark shows and have good memories of watching these shows. However, there is the realization today that placing these gentle animals in captivity does not help their cause, and is perhaps also dangerous for humans as well. The main thesis of this short paper, therefore is that the captivity of cetaceans such as dolphins and killer whales is unethical because this does more harm than good on both the animals and on humans. Inhumane Treatment of Animals Results in Dangerous Behavior The animals are treated inhumanely, especially before a show. According ...

Captive Breeding of Marine Mammals: Challenges and Mitigating Measures

Introduction The growing demand to sustain the current lifestyle of the human population puts an added strain to the natural resources of the world. The increase in the exploitation of tropical forests and marine communities leads to a series of habitat destruction thereby leaving thousands of species of both terrestrial and marine animal homeless (Soule et al., 1986). Since 1986, there are already about nineteen percent and nine percent of the world’s mammals and birds respectively that are bread by zoos as per the International Zoo Yearbook Census. Based on the International Species Inventory System, there are about ...

Introduction

Unlike what is suggested by its name, the long-finned pilot whale, known by the scientific name: Globicephala melas, is not really a whale but belongs to the family of dolphins. It is classified under the order Cetacea (cetaceans, whales), the suborder Odontoceti (suborder of toothed whales) and the family Delphinidea (dolphins). This species is classified under “Data Deficient (DD)” and on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list (Dolphin Fund, 2011). This species is mostly threatened by the activities of man but other threats such as diseases and ingestion of heavy metals exist. Usually, the long-finned ...

Caring for Whales: Outline

Introduction: Our oceans once brimming with sea life, have been greatly impacted with man’s presence. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the decline of our ocean’s cetacean population. The dire struggle faced by world’s whale populations has often been a closely guarded secret. The desire to profit from commercial whaling has led to legal and ethical loop holes within many of the world’s governments. Until issues surrounding whaling are resolved, the world’s whale populations still linger in the shadow of extinction. Thesis: The conservation of whales and other cetaceans remains an important issue ...