Marine Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 31, 2012

Expedition to Count Endangered Chinese Porpoises

How many finless porpoises are left in China's Yangtze River? An expedition is under way to count how many of these endangered animals survive in the heavily polluted waterway. There are less than 1,800 of the animals in the wild, mainly in the central and lower reaches of the 3,915-mile...

Aug 31, 2012

'Mama's Boys' May Explain Killer Whale Menopause

Menopause is a rare phenomenon in the animal world. Besides humans, killer whales are among the few species whose females lose their ability to reproduce well before the end of their natural life span. But to what advantage? Researchers have speculated that for humans, menopause evolved to reduce competition between...

May 31, 2012

Dolphin Genes Hold Clues to Animal Intelligence

Evolution-wise, bottlenose dolphins have left their mammalian brothers in the dust, and new research is showing what genes they changed to do it. These genes include those involved in brain and metabolism. These changes could be why dolphins are known to be exceptionally smart, able to use tools, recognize themselves...

Apr 30, 2012

Dolphins Help Fishermen Catch Fish

A visitor might stumble upon a strange sight in Laguna, Brazil, if they went down to the shore. Here, the local fishermen rely on dolphins to help them with their yearly fish catch. New research has found that just one local group of about 20 dolphins works with the fishermen,...

Mar 31, 2012

Image Gallery: Russia's Beautiful Killer Whales

White Orca (Image credit: © Far East Russia Orca Project) A mature all-white male orca, the only one of its kind known, has been spotted in the North Pacific off the east coast of Russia, scientists announced Monday (April 23). After seeing its towering white dorsal fin breaking through the...

Feb 29, 2012

High Number of Sick Dolphins May Be Linked to Gulf Oil Spill

Sickly, underweight bottlenose dolphins living and dying in the northern Gulf of Mexico may be the result of exposure to oil that gushed into the water after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. The oil disaster occurred April 20, 2010, when the Macando oil well blew out. During the three...

Jul 31, 2013

Long Time, No See: Dolphins Remember Long-Lost Buddies for Decades

Just like people, dolphins remember old friends for decades, new research suggests. After a 20-year separation, dolphins in the study recognized the identifying whistles of other animals that were once housed with them, according to a new study published today (Aug. 6) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society...

Jun 30, 2013

Dolphins Get Free Ride from Gray Whale

Scientists taking stock of cetaceans off California's coast captured an amazing sight from the air: a pod of dolphins enjoying a free ride from a migrating gray whale. In the photo, a dozen long-beaked common dolphins cruise in front of the gray whale, pushed along by the bigger animal's bow...

Jun 30, 2013

Military Sonar May Hurt Blue Whales

The oceans are increasingly cluttered with human-made noise, which can disturb even the largest animals on Earth, blue whales, new research shows. Whales depend on vocalizations to communicate with other individuals in their species over long distances. But sonar blips that the U.S. military uses in underwater navigation, object-detection and...

Apr 30, 2013

Naval Exercises Take Deadly Toll on Dolphins: Op-Ed

Michael Jasny, director of the NRDC Marine Mammal Project, contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. On June 9, 2008, at least 60 dolphins stranded along the coast of Cornwall, England, in what was by far the largest common dolphin mortality ever seen in British waters. For...

Dec 31, 2012

Endangered Beluga Whales See Slight Population Uptick

A rare group of beluga whales in Alaska saw a slight increase in numbers last year, a survey showed. Scientists estimated that the population of Cook Inlet belugas stood at 312 in 2012, compared with a record low 278 in 2011, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)...

Dec 31, 2012

A Whale of a Boat Ride Caught on Video

What would you do if an animal the size of a submarine wanted to give you the once-over? An inflatable boat full of tourists found out recently in Hawaii, when two humpback whales circled their boat for at least 10 minutes, according to a report by Hawaii News Now. The...

Jun 30, 2014

Why Are Whales Not Recovering? (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. When commercial whaling was banned in 1986 it put an end to a harvest that threatened the existence of some of the most majestic animals on Earth. With several...

Oct 31, 2015

Humpback Whales Make Migration Pit Stops at Underwater Mountains

Underwater mountains are key stopovers in the migratory routes of an endangered population of humpback whales in the South Pacific, new research shows. Humpback whales are found in all of the world's oceans, from icy to tropical waters. They migrate farther than any other mammal, traveling great distances from their...

Feb 29, 2016

Relax, Beached 'Sea Monster' Just a Whale's Head

A large, shapeless, gray mass that recently washed ashore on a Mexican beach had officials and observers alike scratching their heads over what in the world the thing could be. People guessed it might be a giant squid, a type of whale or perhaps some sort of unknown, monstrous creature....