Six New Baby Orcas

The Salish Sea (the new name for Puget Sound and the surrounding waters) is the home to the Southern Resident killer whale population. Recently listed as endangered, they finally have some good news to share - six new baby orcas born in the last year including one just spotted last week! That's not a baby above, that's one of the orcas from L pod - more about her below...

Three orcas also went missing (presumed dead) in the last year which takes their total to only 88 orcas, but it's great to see their numbers rising rather than plummeting as they have in years past. Although there are many potential causes for their decline (boat noise, toxicity, decimation through capture), the availability of salmon is considered the current leading issue for the survival of the orcas. For those of you who haven't known me a few years, these orcas are very near and dear to my heart. The Southern Resident population should technically be 89 if you include Lolita, the one surviving orca from the nearly fifty orcas captured in the 1960s and 1970s. For more info on her, take a look at my Seattle Times articles on Lolita and the history of orca captures. That's her at the top of this post.

Here's a picture from a whale watching trip a few years ago of the one baby orca I've seen in the wild - J42. Have you ever tried taking a picture of a moving animal with a time-delay on your digital camera? Much harder than it looks...

The new baby J47 belongs to J35, a very young mother at the age of 12. Orca life spans and reproductive ages track very similarly to humans so becoming a mother at age 12 is a concern. The good news for these family-centered orcas is that J47 also has a grandmother, aunties, and a few other baby cousins to guide her. Fifty percent of orca babies die before reaching the age of one so J47 will need all the help he or she can get. In addition to the main issue of food supply, baby orcas also test very high in toxicity. All orcas, since they're at the top of the food chain, have toxicity issues, but the babies bear the brunt of it. When they're mothers nurse them, the maternal fat stores pass the toxicity to the babies.

Interested in learning more about orcas? The Southern Resident orcas are the most studied whales in the world and there are some great resources: Center for Whale Research, Killer Whale Tales (this group offers programs for schools), and Orca Network.

Good luck to the six new babies!

Yellowstone Grizzlies Endangered Again

Last month, I blogged about a the recent killings of grizzly bears in Montana. The grizzlies of Montana are back in the news this week with their return to the Endangered Species list.

Image via Wikipedia

In 2007, the approximately 500 grizzlies in Yellowstone were delisted, but the Greater Yellowstone Coalition appealed this ruling and won. The court decided to relist them as endangered because they agreed with the coalition that the Fish & Wildlife Service didn't have adequate regulatory mechanisms to protect the bears.

The court also stated that the agency didn't properly consider the effects of global warming and the decline of whitebark pine nuts, which are a major food source for grizzlies.

The coalition calls the grizzly "an iconic symbol of Greater Yellowstone’s power and beauty." My boys have friends who saw a grizzly up close and personal in Yellowstone this summer. They didn't mention the beauty, but the bear certainly had the power to make them retreat quickly to their car! They were most impressed with the giant claws.

Welcome back to the list Grizzlies...

A Day at the Zoo

My kids and I spent the day at the Akron Zoo last week and enjoyed seeing all the animals including the jaguar cubs, jellyfish, lions, sloth bears and tortoises (oddly enough one was stolen that night, but I swear we didn't do it). The picture at right proves he was still there when we visited!

Every time I go to the zoo, I can't help but revisit the debate over whether keeping animals behind cages is helpful or harmful to animals. Having done research in the past about orca captivity makes me particularly aware of how bad some situations can be.

Overall, though, I think zoos are lots of fun and an excellent way to teach children about conservation and the world around them. The first zoo I ever took my son to was the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska and I loved a quote they had on the wall. I can't find the exact words (amazingly, not everything seems to be available on the Internet), but the gist of it was that you had to see the animals to learn about them, you had to learn about them to understand them, and you had to understand them to want to protect them. I think that sums up my feelings. Ideally, I wish all animals were out roaming the wild, but if you consider the impact that humans have on the animal kingdom, I think zoos go a long way in helping us understand and appreciate the enviornment around us.

There are some ways to make sure that the zoo that you visit is working in the best interests of the animals. Here are a few things to consider before you head off for a day with the wild animals.

• Check to see if they are a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This group gives accreditation to zoos that meet their rigid standards. Only 10% of animal exhibits in the US meet these standards. Fortunately, most major zoos and aquariums do make the cut.
• Pay attention to what other activities the zoo takes part in. Do they support conservation efforts in other parts of the world? Are they breeding endangered species? My favorite zoo for helping the endangered species is the San Diego Wild Animal Park which is making great strides with endangered animals including rhinos and giraffes.
• Check out the staff. Are the animals being cared for by trained staff?
• Look at the exhibits themselves. Are they trying to put the animals in something similar to their natural habitat or do they just have one lone animal sitting on a slab of concrete?

Once you've checked out where you're headed, pack some snacks and suncreen and enjoy the animals. Maybe, for once, the wild animals on your outing won't be your own!

Saving the Endangered Animals' DNA

Many organizations are taking actions every day to save the endangered species, but I happened

Image via Wikipedia

to see a new one step in - the American Museum of Natural History. You know the one - famous in your kids eyes from Night at the Museum.

They have entered into an agreement with the National Parks Service to save DNA for all endangered and threatened species. Their goal is "to better manage existing animal populations." They also specifically state that they are not intending to get into the business of cloning. Seems like a good idea to have as much information as possible about these species while they're still here.

Image by DJMcCrady via Flickr

All the talk about endangered species made me wonder how many really are currently listed. The US Fish and Wildlife Service actually keeps track on a daily basis. In the United States, there are 409 endangered and 162 threatened animal species. There are also an additional 570 foreign species and over 1000 plants on the list as well. The list covers the large (grizzly bears and orca whales) to the small (clams and beetles).

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has an interesting line on their site - Endangered means there is still time. There is also a Kids Corner that talks about what kids can do to help. I think an easy way to bring it to our kids level is to see what's endangered around them by looking at a state-by-state endangered species list. What's endangered in your area?

Seven Words Kids Should Know

Image by Adventures in Librarianship via Flickr

The Oxford Junior Dictionary raised some eyebrows recently when they swapped some words in the new edition of the dictionary - chatroom, voicemail, and blog were added to the dictionary. Of course, they can't make the book heavier so those words came at the expense of words like dandelion, fern, porpoise, spinach, and brook. Apparently, words related to nature (everything from weeds to flowers to vegetables) didn't fair well in the update. They did add a few new words that I like - biodegradable, drought, and endangered.

That got me thinking about what words we should be teaching our children as they grow up. They hear the word "green" all the time in the media, but what about words that more accurately describe the issues our planet is facing? My choice for words to talk to my kids about are listed below. To see kid-friendly defintions, as well as many other words, click the link for each word which will take you to an Ecology Dictionary on PlanetPals.

• sustainability

  Image via Wikipedia

• climate change
• greenhouse gas
• conservation
• carbon footprint
• deforestation
• fossil fuel

My kids know just a few of these words - carbon footprint because we measured ours recently and climate change because they know about the challenge the polar bears are having - so we definitely have some room to grow our minds this summer. What words do you want your children to know?