- This is one of those moments that will forever be imprinted in my mind 💭 song: @alinabaraz
nolanomura
Source: instagram.com
- Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak once wrote, "Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us." During an ocean clean-up trip off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, creator @brendanshow and his crew were joined by one of nature's friendliest surprises. "We were extremely lucky that morning, we were greeted by a huge pod of about 200 dolphins or so — 'Dusky Dolphins,' they are found in the coastal waters of the Southern Hemisphere. They followed us for about 20 minutes and then went on their way." Where have you encountered a surprise in nature like this during your travels? (🎥: @brendanshow 📍: Cape Town, South Africa )
beautifuldestinations
Source: instagram.com
Dolphins off the coast of Australia
abcnews Dolphins off the coast of Naragansett, Rhode Island, feed on a bait ball of fish.
Dolphins, Whales, and an enormous sunfish off the coast of South Africa, with Table Mountain in the background
Drone view of dolphin pod above coral reefs, off Laguna Beach, California
Flying over a pod of dolphins, Australia
Glowing dolphins The three trails of faint blue light you see in this video are visible because of swimming dolphins. The dolphins themselves aren’t glowing, but the water they’re traveling through is. The dolphins are swimming through water that contains bioluminescent algae. These algae typically glow when they’re disturbed and that can happen from anything; a wave, a footprint on a beach, or even dolphins swimming by. -JBB Gif credit: http://bit.ly/1Ol9Ad5
Source: facebook.com
Pod of Dolphins and the sea cliff at Santa Barbara, filmed from the air
Dolphins: What Happens in the Ocean Stays in the Ocean
Warning: If you're uncomfortable reading about intercourse and masturbation, I recommend you do not read this article.
Dolphins are incredibly intelligent animals and are renowned for their grace and agility. Movies like "Flipper" and "Dolphin Tale," marine exhibits, and tourism show off their beautiful jumps and tricks, making the public love them even more. Ask almost anyone, and adults and children alike will tell you they love dolphins.
Dolphins, however, are extremely horny animals. Their libido is so high, observational studies have found that ~30% of their time is spent on sexual activities. To put it in perspective, that's about 7 hours of a 24 hour day spent on sexual pleasure. SEVEN HOURS. Sounds tiring, except that dolphins only sleep approximately every 5 days, so they don't care.
As humorous as it may sound reading about it, it is important to know and expect this behaviour before you go diving with dolphins. Some divers report that it can be an extremely stressful and scary ordeal if the dolphin becomes particularly aggressive.
If dolphins can't find another dolphin, they'll masturbate with just about anything. Just a simple Google or YouTube search, and there are many stories of awkward encounters with masturbating dolphins. Male on female? Check. Male on male? Check. Threesomes? Check. Orgies? Check. Other species? Double check. Human divers? Of course (http://huff.to/1DKaLeu). Dead stuff? Yup (http://bit.ly/1HvObbd). Still-alive eel wrapped around its penis? Oh yes, that happened too. And let's not forget last year when a lady dolphin trainer revealed that in the 1960's she would let her male dolphin masturbate with her before his training sessions (http://bit.ly/1CMTBJt), or the gentleman who wrote a book about having an exclusive sexual relationship with a lady-dolphin in the 1970's (http://huff.to/1DKaLeu– bottom of page).
I guess you could say they're just having a "whale" of a time! (Oh god, that was an awful joke)
~Rosie
Other disturbing facts about dolphins: http://bit.ly/1JLSVc0 Images: http://to.pbs.org/1NNokk1 http://bit.ly/1FN1fo7 Reference: http://bit.ly/1EJJ1rr
Source: facebook.com
Major impacts on dolphins from Deepwater Horizon oil spill It’s been several years since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to one of the largest oil spills in recorded history. That means we’re now getting good scientific studies of how the ecosystems in the gulf reacted to and recovered from the disaster. A study has just been published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology looking at the health of dolphins in the Gulf after the spill and their results are disconcerting. A team led by NOAA scientist Lori Schwacke visited Batavia Bay off the coast of Louisiana in 2011, over a year after the start of the oil spill, and investigated the health of local dolphins. Their results weren’t positive, to say the least. Of that group, 48% were unhealthy. In the group exposed to the oil, they found a variety of issues, including hypoadrenocorticism (consistent with adrenal exposure to toxic chemicals), lung issues at 5 times the rate of the normal population, and large numbers that were underweight. Many of the dolphins with breathing issues also had growths on or within their lungs. Of this group, they estimated that just under 20% would be unlikely to survive, and 30% were marginal cases. By comparing this population to dolphins in Florida, unaffected by the spill, the scientists make a strong case that the problems in the Batavia Bay dolphins are directly related to the spill. Populations in the area not exposed to the oil don’t have similar problems, and the issues are the exact problems that would be expected from exposure to oil. Most of the oil released by the Deepwater Horizon was consumed rapidly by microbes in the Gulf. However, it’s clear from this study that the spill caused damage to the ecosystem that was still visible in the dolphins over a year later. -JBB Image credit: NOAA http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/03/counting_corpses_underestimate.html Press report: http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/12/half_of_bottlenose_dolphins_of.html Original paper: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es403610f