Neomonachus schauinslandi, also known as the Hawaiian monk seal, it is an endangered species found throughout the Hawaiian Islands. This is the oldest species of seals on the planet characterized by a gray color body but turns brown when weathering. They have a life cycle of 25-30 years with the female giving birth to usually only one pup. The skin of the Hawaiian monk seal has unique attributes that allow it to shed the top layer of their skin and fur called “catastrophic molt”. The skin is also reputed for heat tolerance.…
Each year, environmentalist groups campaign against the Canadian Seal Hunt despite the fact that this harvest is proven to be humane, environmentally sustainable, and a crucial part of many lives. The cameras show cruelty that does not reflect reality. In fact, this hunt is one of the most highly regulated in the world. Sealers kill using the swiftest methods developed. Over 90 percent use firearms and the rest use hakapiks.…
This essay is going to be about two articles called “The Amazing Penguin Rescue” (Lauren Tarshis) and “Saving Penguins, One Sweater At A Time” (Kristin Lewis). Did you know that little penguins are a species of penguin, so named because they can range anywhere from 10 to 12 inches tall (Kristin Lewis). When oil gets on penguins their feathers clump up, when this happens it exposes their skin and allows all the cold water and poisonous oil to get to their skin and make them cold (Lauren Tarshis 16). The penguins from “ The Amazing Penguin Rescue” and “ Saving Penguins, One Sweater At A Time” should be brought to a zoo close to home because it can prevent them from dying from poisonous oil spill when searching for food.…
Hawaii, a diverse island in the middle of the Pacific ocean that carries a lot of different plant and animal species. These species are excotic and significant to the Hawaiian culture. People may think these species are frequent in daily life however, these species are endangered because of other species threatening them. The native species are being put in danger and becoming extinct. Imagine really cool and colourful birds getting executed from man brought species.…
Canadian Seal Hunt The famous Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai once said “Environment and the economy are really both two sides of the same coin. If we cannot sustain our environment, we can not sustain ourselves” This has led me to the belief that the Canadian Seal hunt should not be banned because of the environmental benefits, economical benefits and the health benefits it provides that have been discovered through well developed research. Firstly, the seal hunt is balancing out the ecosystem. Research shows that seals in Newfoundland and Labrador are consuming 250, 000 MT of Turbot, 800, 000 MT of capelin and…
This has led to sever over population of seals from having a lack of predators and therefore a large decrease in their food source, the threatened species Atlantic cod. If unchecked the seals will continue to deplete the cod stocks causing them to run out of a sufficient food source causing the seals to die of starvation. This can lead to the marine ecosystem in this area to collapse. There is a common misconception that the seal hunt is inhumane because of some of the tools tradionally used in the hunt. In fact, the way that the seals are killed is actually very humane.…
The marine mammal that I selected is the Hawaiian Monk Seal. It’s Hawaiian name is ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua or na mea hulu (NOAA, n.d.). Also, the scientific name of the Hawaiian monk seal is Monachus schauinslandi (The Marine Mammal Center, n.d.). The Hawaiian monk seal is one of the most endangered marine mammal. Due to the fact that it’s endangered, they are now protected by the Marine mammal protection Act, the Endangered species Act, and also protected by Hawaii’s state law (The Marine Mammal Center, n.d.).…
The Arctic Angel Out of all of the animals on Earth today, none of them can amount to being as fascinating and adorable as the Harp Seal. The Harp Seal is an aquatic mammal that is related to the Sea Lion and Walrus (¨Harp Seal¨). These seals live in the Northern Hemisphere, in and around the Arctic Sea, as well as in the North Atlantic Ocean (¨Harp Seal¨). There are many interesting facts about Harp Seals, ranging from reproduction, behaviours, appearance, and even their unique lifespan.…
1) After looking at the graphs in Figures 3 and 4, it is obvious that killer whales are the cause behind the deaths of a large amount of sea otters. Despite the data for Figure 3 showing all sea otter the researchers encountered, while the data for Figure 4 showing sea otters with radio tags, both figures still show a drastic decrease in sea otter population with the only main difference between Kulak Bay and Clam Lagoon being the ease of access that killer whales have to the areas. The researchers looked at 2 different sets of data because they wanted to show the general decline in the population in figure 3 and then show a more specific set of otters to show that the general decline was not because of human error. By having figure 4 focus on…
Depriving California Seals of their Home In the article “Harbor Seals in the Children’s Pool,” the author writes about different opinions for keeping harbor seals in the children pool or chasing them away. The author gives examples of people who agree to keep the seals the seals and their reasons, and other who don’t agree and their sights and aspects. The author shows us the two sides of the issue as positive and negative effects of keeping the children’s Beach as a rookery for California Seals. In my opinion, I agree to keep the seals at La Jolla’s children Pool Beach for many positive effects.…
No, no way, the Canadian government shouldn't ban the seal hunt due to many reasons. I feel the main reasons are: we would lose resources that we acquire from the seals, due to the increase in population of the seals, fishes that we eat are decreasing in population some are even close to extinct, and that the media is going above and beyond by showing nonsense and causing people to act against the seal hunt which is hurting the economy, specially the fishermans. First of all the seals are killed in a humane manner. The seal fishery is highly regulated and is being closely monitored to assure that the seal hunt is conducted in a proper manner, not torturing the seals. It is no less or more humane than the way other animals that supply us…
The ringed seal is a key sentinel species for mercury (Hg) contamination in Arctic marine ecosystems. The total mercury concentrations in Arctic ringed seals’ muscle were determined using a cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (CVAFS) instrument. The total mercury concentrations in high ice cover years (2003, 2004 and 2005) were significantly higher than the low ice cover years (2011 and 2012). This suggests that the change in ice-cover significantly changes the total mercury concentrations in the Arctic Ocean due to loss of methylmercury (MeHg) through photodemethylation. The mercury concentrations were increased with age in male ringed seals whereas there is no such trend in female.…
After being lifted from the plate and placed in the mouth, the poor pizza goes on a long journey through the digestive system and eventually is turned into waste after passing through the 6 primary organs of the digestive tract: the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and anus. The process of digestion starts when Bob the pizza is placed in the mouth. The main structures of the mouth are the teeth, tongue, salivary duct and oesophagus. Bob is killed, being chewed on by the teeth, enclosed in a dark area where he can’t escape.…
Exacerbating the problems caused by the loss of these animals’ hunting areas, it is expected that the shrinking polar ice cap will also cause the number of seals, polar bears’ prey, to decline. The decrease in ice platforms near productive areas for fish that seals eat is affecting their reproduction rates and nutritional status. These mammals are going hungry for longer periods of time, which results in them developing cannibalistic behavior. Though it is already known that they would kill for dominance or kill cubs to breed with the females, outright predation for food was not observed by biologists in the…
They have a thick layer of fat under their skin, which is surprisingly black. They have a dense undercoat helping insulate heat. “Each hair shaft is pigment-free and transparent with a hollow core that scatters and reflects visible light, much like what happens with ice and snow”(1). Although their fur appears to be white, it is actually transparent. Insulating heat is key to surviving the artic temperatures.…