dinosaurs to dinner

Oceanus has published an excellent summary of new research into the differnt hunting strategies of Pilot whales vs Beaked whales. The two species have overlapping hunting grounds and share a primary food source, deep ocean squid, yet have very different hunting strategies. Pilot whales use many fast deep dives while Beaked whales take a more liesurely approach. The different strategies raise the possibility that they have evolved in response to each other. The researches gathered the data using D-tags which attach to the whales and record the sounds they use to locate and capture prey. Very cool stuff.

“Is anyone not aware that wild fish are in deep trouble? That three-quarters of commercially caught species are over-exploited or exploited to their maximum? Do they not know that industrial fishing is so inefficient that a third of the catch, some 32 million tonnes a year, is thrown away? For every ocean prawn you eat, fish weighing 10-20 times as much have been thrown overboard. These figures all come from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which also claims that, of all the world’s natural resources, fish are being depleted the fastest. With even the most abundant commercial species, we eat smaller and smaller fish every year - we eat the babies before they can breed.”

(hat tip to Shifting Baselines)

I think I’m more disturbed by the image of KFC chocolate chip cakes than they’re being recalled.

A Buffy fanfic podcast for all you crazy insane obsessed intelligent thoughtful dedicated Buffy aficionados.