Posts Tagged ‘Climate Change’

Whale poop fights climate change

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Endangered Species,Featured,Field Research,What You Can Do

Faecal attraction! At least that is the headline on Yahoo News at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/specieswhalesclimateoffbeat

Odd things catch my attention. First, I would have thought faecal was spelled fecal – but what do I know about whale poop? Much more after spending a few minutes riveted to my computer screen.

As if we did not need another reason to protect whales – it has been determined that sperm whale poop in the Southern Oceans remove the equivalent carbon emissions from 40,000 cars each year thanks to their faeces. What!

It is estimated that 12,000 sperm whales in the Southern Ocean each defecate around 50 tonnes of iron into the sea every year after digesting the fish and squid they hunt and the phytoplankton which eats the iron suck up carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.

What does this mean for you? It means we will not ask you to donate money through a carbon calculator to offset your travel. Oh no my friend, now we will ask you for money so that we may breed squid to feed to sprem whales to increase their poop output. This squid decarbonization formula will help you help whales help us.

Seriously though, read the article, whales are in trouble in every ocean they are found and being careful consumers and supporting protection measures will help protect these amazing animals.

A Coral Story – sort of…

Posted by in Featured

The Houston Zoo is a member of a group called SECORE which is short for Sexual Coral Reproduction.

By combining the knowledge of top aquarists and leading scientists, SECORE  operates at the forefront of innovation in different fields such as coral breeding, sustainability, reef restoration, population genetics or cryopreservation.

This unique approach has led to significant success in the conservation of endangered coral species and paved the way to help preserving one of the earth’s most diverse ecosystem – the coral reef.

Climate change, climate disruption, global warming, cliamte shift – it does not matter what we call it – something is happening to the world’s weather patterns and with it, the potential loss of thousands of organisms within our next generation. Coral reefs are being harmed through the acidification of the oceans waters. Ocean acidification occurs when there is an ongoing decrease of pH levels of the Earth’s oceans which is caused by the uptake of anthropogenic (human-made) carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Will all coral reefs be extinct in 2065?
A 15-years-old girl living in 2065 talks about extinct coral reefs and what went wrong! This very powerful movie had been presented at the Global Climate Congress in Copenhagen to visualize the drastic consequences of climate change to the leaders of the world !

Click here for the video on the potential future of coral reefs. Please watch and share this video with friends.