Photo by Puliarf Whales aren’t the only marine species negatively affected by human-generated noise pollution in the oceans. Sound is an important, and well developed sense in many fish, more species of which are being threatened by the increase in noise made by oil and gas rigs, ships, boats and sonar. In a new review, scientists look at how the rise in sounds over the last hundred years as humans have taken to the oceans has impacte… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Noise Pollution Harms Fish Populations, Locations, Habits

Photos via Galileu In hopes of better understanding the stages of fetal development in sharks, researchers from Brazil’s Guaruja Aquarium have literally opened a window into the once elusive world of shark eggs . For researchers, this new, unobscured peek into the humble beginnings of sharks may offer insights into how best to preserve them, many … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Shark Egg "Window" Proves Even As Babies They’re Scary (Video)

Stinking whale on beach. Many cases of dynamite later…blubber rains on humans. This old exploding whale video seems like a good metaphor for the occasional failure of technology to solve to Big Problems like the BP leaker, I wanted first to use that scene in Raiders of the Lost Arc when the bad guys open up the box and all hell breaks loose. But, I can’t post… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Exploding Whale – A Metaphor For Top Kill, Junk Shot, And All The Rest

Scroll down for for the actual video. Be aware the ‘disturbing images’ warning at the start of it is no joke. In the midst of the all oil spill all the time coverage out there, you may have missed this truly horrific story of systematic animal cruelty perpetrated at Conklin Dairy Farms in Ohio. Mercy For Animals ran an undercover investigation into what was going on at the dairy and came away with some of the most disturbing footage … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Calf Head Stomping Dairy Farmer Exposed, Gets Charged With 12 Counts of Animal Cruelty (Video)

[ By Angie in Animals & Habitats , Nature & Ecosystems , Science & Research . ] With Memorial Day coming up, a special day of remembrance for those who have died before us, many people will be making trips to cemeteries to show their respect and to decorate graves. But what about those graves at the bottom of the ocean or other bodies of water which are nearly impossible to visit? We thought to pay tribute to those who perished and remain underwater. Here we dive for eerie underwater graves to view submerged skeletons. Cremated Human Remains – Neptune Society (image credit: jacksonville ) There are people who make the decision to have an underwater grave. In fact, cremation companies like the Neptune Society offer their customers such an option. People can choose to have their ashes entombed in the largest artificial reef off the coast of Miami. That way, a person helps reduce their body’s impact on the earth while also promoting sea life after death. Underwater Bones Decades of Dinner (image credits: phschool , walkerunderwater ) Studies on whale carcasses on the seafloor have proven that each skeleton supports a biological abundance, a deep-sea ecosystem. Whale cadavers have been sunk in the name of research. Science News Online summed up oceanographer Craig Smith’s findings. “Instead of grass giving way to shrubs that yield to the trees of forests, whale falls first nourish such scavengers as hagfish, then bone-eating zombie worms, and eventually the clams” which live near a deep-ocean vent. Left to nature, skeletons simply return to the earth and seem to “disappear.” On the bottom right, photographer Bill Reals captured the image of a 10,500 year old human skeleton in a underwater Yucatan cave. Since people and animals used to live in caves, and now some of those caves are hidden underwater, that is where some human skeletal remains have been discovered. Finding human skeletons underwater is far from common. In fact, considering how much water covers the globe, finding human remains is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. Sperm Whale (image credit:  gue ) Photographer Uli Kunz shot this 2009 winner for Global Underwater Explorers picture of year. It features diver Henning May at Germany’s largest aquarium, Ozeaneum. The skeleton is of a sperm whale which had become stranded in the North Sea and perished. Ozeaneum holds 2.6 million liters of seawater and a variety of fish from the Atlantic Ocean. Skeletal Remains (image credits:  underwater , divebums , divebums ) We would expect to see skeletal remains from creatures that live in the water. The “Skinny Turtle,” on the left, is described as Turtle Skeleton in the Turtle Tomb and was found near Sipadan, Malaysia. On the top right is the skeletal remains of a wolf eel. The bottom right is an “unidentified skeletal piece” found near the Marine Room of the shipwrecked La Jolla . Atlantis Found & Giant Skeleton Hoax? (image credits: barracuadz , tutuz ) Although it was a hoax, it was widely reported that the National Geographic Society had unearthed skeletons of ancient giant humans. It spread like wildfire across the web because people wanted to believe in it. People also believe in Atlantis and some spend their lives trying to find it. American Atlantologist Dan Clark believed he had discovered Atlantis and the top image is supposedly of Atlantis. Part of his conclusion relied on the underwater discovery of a “skeleton of human height 3.5 meters.” With so many hoaxes, the facts can escape us; the ocean is a giant graveyard where rarely anyone pays tribute on Memorial Day. First reported as Holloway (image credit:  stephww ) During a diving trip in Aruba, a Pennsylvania couple snapped what they thought might be the remains of missing American teen Natalee Holloway. If it was not her skeletal remains, then whose? It could be a rock formation, but there is no doubt that the sea holds many secrets and many skeletons. Shipwreck (image credits:  portal.unesco , wetpixel ) Throughout time, ships have sailed, been shipwrecked and have sunk. Countless human lives have been lost and the sea is their underwater grave. Organizations like UNESCO work to protect the underwater cultural heritage. Professional scuba divers, those people who dive for fun, treasure hunters, and underwater archeologists bring us magnificent photos from the ocean depths. Tim Digger captured the bottom image of the SS Carnatic which ran aground on an island in the Red Sea. 31 people drowned. Human Remains (image credits:   advan ced diver magazine , utexas , national geographic ) Underwater archaeologists discovered the screaming skull, at top left, along with 18 human skeletal remains of a Mayan sacrifice near Mexico. The discovery was called The Well of Time. On the top right, the discovery was called the Well of Sacred Waters. It revealed multiple human remains. At the bottom left, the nearly complete human skeleton was found atop the anchor line in the bow. The skeleton was part of the shipwrecked La Belle , which sunk off the coast of Texas in 1686. On the bottom right, the female skeleton was found deep inside an underwater cave in Mexico. Her remains were called Eve of Naharon and were dated at 13,600 years old, making her the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas. Underwater: Neolithic Woman & Infant (image credits: LiveScience ) The above images show the 9,000 year old excavated skeletons of a Neolithic woman and an infant buried with her. Researchers discovered tuberculosis on the bones. That makes this woman and her infant the oldest known and confirmed TB cases. Their remains were found submerged in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Israel, where the ancient Atlit-Yam village once existed. Yamagiri Maru (image credits: petemesley , petemesley ) Diver and photographer Pete Mesley reported that Truk Lagoon was one of the best diving experiences in his life. Along the remains of one shipwreck, they found much more than skeleton shipwreck bones. They found human skeletal remains at Yamagiri Maru . “Probably one of the most shocking sights of the dive was the human skull in the engine room which was embedded into one of the machine mountings. Other human remains lay on ledges. Another grim reminder of the terror of death.” Underwater Archaeology in Submerged Wells & Caves This is the entrance UNESCO divers used for a submerged carst cave in Mexico. UNESCO heritage includes underwater artifacts and traces of ancient human life preserved in flooded caves. The caves have either always been submerged or have been flooded by the rise of the sea. These divers are in a submerged cave, a cenote, in Mexico. This is the ‘Tux kapaxa cave’ in Mexico, where ancient traces of human presence and ancient fauna were discovered underwater. On the left, a diver holds a human skull which was found underwater in a Mexican cave. Pictured on the right, a diver swims near human remains in a cenote. (image credits: unesco ) On the bottom is the skull of the “woman of Muknal,” dated 10,000 BC. It was also discovered by an archeologist in a Mexican cenote. Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebEcoist: Water On Lens: Underwater Stage Filming and Photography Here are 23 images taken from Pinewood Studios underwater movie shoots like The Da Vinci Code and Casino Royale, as well as some extra underwater stage filming photos. Click Here to Read More »» Underwater Jewels: The Ocean’s Most Colorful Slugs When we think of slugs, most of us picture the small land variety. But in the ocean waters lives a whole other world of colorful, fascinating sea slugs. 1 Comment – Click Here to Read More »» [ WebEcoist - By Angie in Animals & Habitats , Nature & Ecosystems , Science & Research . ]

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Eerie Underwater Graves & Diving For Submerged Skeletons

Photo: Creative commons . Meet Interesting Animals, Learn About Them, Eat Them… You might think that a zoo’s mission is to care for animals and to educate the general public about the fascinating creatures that we share our planet with. For most zoos, that’s the case, but the Beijing Zoo operates a bit differently. You can’t feed the animals, but you can eat them (or at least, their relatives); the zoo’s restaurant serves things like the webbed toes of hippopotamus, dishes made with crocodiles, scorpions, kangaroo tail, deer penis, ant soup, s… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Beijing Zoo Puts their Animals on the Menu

Smart marketing is an essential part of every successful corporation, and few strategies are more important than creating a memorable logo–and among these designs, animals have long been fixtures. From cars and clothing to cigarettes and booze, there’s no better way to class-up a product than to associate it with one of nature’s creations. But as corporations spend all that time and money branding themselves with the image of animals, while in some cases, the

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Shouldn’t a Company Protect the Species in its Logo?

Photo via The Telegraph After decades of poaching in the latter part of the 20th century, the fate of Eastern Black Rhinos in the Serengeti seemed bleak; By the 1990s, nearly all the region’s rhinos had been wiped out as only two females remained in the wild. But in hopes of preserving the rhino, hunted illegally for their

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Rare Black Rhinos Return Home After 46 Years

[ By Chris in Animals & Habitats , Nature & Ecosystems . ] (Images via: Melbourne Diary Star , Daily Mail , University of Illinois Extension , Anthropology Works , PETA , Wired ) When it comes to intelligence, memory, discipline, pain and grieving, animals such as guinea pigs, horses, bonobos, mice and chimpanzees are more like humans than we sometimes realize. Rodent Smarts – Why It Pays to Live with Humans (Images via: Genome , Cavies Galore , Isara Obba ) While the idea of rodents living in a house may cause many people to feel a bit uneasy, apparently this relationship serves these little fellows quite well, specifically in the formation of greater intelligence. According to a recent study in the journal Frontiers in Zoology , pet rodents are smarter than their wild counterparts, likely due to living with humans. In the study, domesticated and wild guinea pigs were placed in a water maze, with the domesticated animals ultimately performing better and showing superior problem-solving abilities, likely as a result of having to make previous adaptations to man-made environments. This finding is especially surprising when considering previous research noting that domestication reduced rather than increased the brain sizes of domesticated guinea pigs and other rodents. Horse Memories: Maybe Mr. Ed Was Onto Something? (Images via: Lucy Gabrielle , Dipity , No Rush Farm ) Just as some rodents have surprising intelligence, the same can be said about horses, which display amazing long-term memory skills and incredible loyalties. A recent study in the journal Animal Behavior found that horses which had pleasurable experiences (specifically those marked by positive reinforcement) with familiar humans such as their trainers were more likely to remember and display greater affection towards those people after months of separation. Furthermore, such horses were more likely to warm up to and be affectionate with (i.e. sniff and lick) unfamiliar people. According to the study’s researchers, such behavior reveals that horses are able to develop positive memories of humans and hints at the wonderful intelligence of these majestic creatures. The Bonobo Head Shake: When No Means No (Images via: Psychology Today , The Primate Diaries , National Geographic , Range Voting ) While animals can be extremely friendly and loyal like humans, they can also lay down the law when necessary. Take bonobos as a great example. According to recent research in the journal Primates , adult bonobos were observed for the first time shaking their heads in disapproval of certain behavior by younger bonobos. For example, after a mother bonobo removed a piece of leek from a youngster who was playing with rather than eating the food, the mother began to shake her head at the infant when it went back after the leak, as if she was saying “no” to the behavior. Previously bonobos had only been observed shaking their heads while playing. Now researchers suggest that the bonobo head shake could be a “primitive precursor” to the human head shake expressing negativity. Mouse Grimaces: Facial Expressions of Pain (Images via: L.A. Times Blogs , The Times Microbial , Impact Lab , Mus-Musculus ) Could pain, like the negative headshake, be evolutionary? According to recent research in the journal Nature Methods , this is certainly a possibility, specifically when considering how mice exhibit pain with different facial expressions. In the study, researchers recorded the facial movements of mice after they were injected with a substance causing inflammation. Like humans, the mice showed discomfort through facial expressions, with narrowing eyes, bulging cheeks, moving ears, and bunched-up or flattened-out whiskers indicative of more intense pain. It is important to note that the mice expressions returned to normal following the administration of a pain reliever. From these experiments, the researchers were able to create a sliding mouse grimace scale that will be used in the future to reduce the suffering of mice and other animals during medical research. Chimpanzee Grieving: Similar Reactions to Death (Images via: Cookla ) While it is seemingly certain that animals understand the realities of death, recent research on grieving chimpanzees reveals far more awareness than what had been previously recognized. As detailed in the journal Current Biology , a study examined the reactions of three adult chimpanzees as an elderly chimp was passing away. Sensing the inevitable, the three chimpanzees displayed many different types of grieving behavior: they stayed close to the dying female, gently stroking her hair as if providing comfort; they tossed and turned while sleeping at night, suggesting that they were disturbed by the impending death; they apparently attempted resuscitation to see if the sick chimp was still alive; they slowly moved away from the body when the chimp had died; they later returned to the body for apparently either one last attempt at resuscitation or a final confirmation of death; and they cared for the dead chimp’s body, gently grooming and removing straw from her face. Based on these findings, researchers suggest that it may be more beneficial for the grieving and farewell process to let chimpanzees die in their natural group settings rather than in isolation. Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebEcoist: Eyes on the Prize: A Super Bowl of Incredible Animal Vision Just as Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are known for great downfield vision, sea urchins, hammerhead sharks and bees possess quite eye-opening visual skills. Click Here to Read More »» Animal Suicide: Realistic or Illegitimate? Animal suicide is seemingly easy to dismiss on the surface but merits more thought when considering how captivity, depression and other factors can affect animals. 2 Comments – Click Here to Read More »» [ WebEcoist - By Chris in Animals & Habitats , Nature & Ecosystems . ]

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Human-Like: 5 Animal Behaviors That Parallel People

Photo by Brian Merchant It was just over one month ago that the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig was rocked by a massive explosion that lead to the US’s biggest environmental disaster in decades. After it became clear that the oil wasn’t going to stop gushing from the undersea leak anytime soon, TreeHugger sent me to investigate the crisis firsthand. So I traversed the Gulf coast — from the s… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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TreeHugger Exclusive BP Gulf Oil Spill Coverage: Angry Locals and Shocking Marine Life Destruction (Slideshow)