Whales are awesome and important. But because they are so big and sensitive to sound, researchers have a hard time collecting all the data they need without freaking them out. Now, whale biologists from the nonprofit Ocean Alliance have teamed up with students from the Olin College of Engineering to create drones that can capture one of the most important biological materials--a whale's snot--without disturbing the animals. They've launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund their research.
Turtles may not have gained the human fascination of other sea animals, particularly the shark, but these Triassic reptiles continue to be adored by many. In the wild, these creatures continue to be the target ecotourism excursions and seeing these slow moving creatures can make any snorkeling adventure complete.
Spending hours watching whales, wolves, and elephants in their natural habitats presents wildlife biologists with mountains of data that would quickly overwhelm most animal lovers. But when the time comes to catalog it all, renowned marine ecologist Carl Safina reminds us that the work is far from tedious. In his new book, Beyond Words, he calls it “beautiful, urgent, an almost holy quest for deeper intimacy” with the natural world. In effect, he's describing his own book, which brings readers on a critical journey towards reevaluating their relationships with the natural world.
Scientists from the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago have just released a smartphone app called the Great Lakes Fish Finder. The app will help Great Lakes visitors identify what they're seeing while holidaying, and meanwhile will help researchers learn more about what species are highly prevalent in the lakes in real time. The app is being powered by iNaturalist, and is completely free.