Youth Commits To Sea Turtle and Ocean Health

When Casey Sokolovic was 8-years-old, a field trip  to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on Topsail Island, North Carolina, inspired the 3rd grader to make a difference.  

Now 15-years-old Casey Sokolovic has racked up a page of awards and recognitions (with her premier award coming this May--the 2014 Christopher Benchley Youth Award).  Her mission, is Love A Sea Turtle (L.A.S.T.), a project  that raises awareness of ocean conditions and an "educational outreach program and an outdoor environmental summer science camp that traces the path of fresh water to the coast," as noted on the Love a Sea Turtle website.

During this year's  MLK Day of Service, L.A.S.T. organized "..over 125 volunteers – 98 were Boys & Girls Club members! Together, we cleared and cleaned trails, removed invasive species, constructed a fossil pit, assembled fishing line recycling containers, and shared a Monday Meal," says Casey's blog.

Watch these baby sea turtles rush to the ocean

About sea turtles from Defenders of Wildlife

• Sea turtles are one of the Earth's most ancient creatures. 
• The seven species that can be found today have been around for 110  million years, since the time of the dinosaurs. 
• The sea turtle's shell, or "carapace" is streamlined for swimming through the water. Unlike other turtles, sea turtles cannot retract their legs and head into their shells. 
• Their color varies between yellow, greenish and black depending on the species.

The Singing Elephant Seals of Piedras Blancas

The Three Elephant Seal Tenors of Piedras Blancas

Northern Elephant Seal weaners (pups that were born this winter and are now weaned from their mothers) can be heard singing, yapping, barking, and just raising a ruckus on the beach as they teach themselves how to swim and dive.  Once they master their basic skills, each weaner will leave--on its own time schedule--for its first six months, or so, at sea.

The next time they begin to return to the beach where they were born will be late summer and early fall. 

Finding Diseased Sea Stars in Tide Pools

Sea star missing legs. Photo from UCSC

When exploring tide pools anywhere between Alaska and California, watch out.  You might find a sea star (starfish) missing legs or looking really gross.

What is wrong with them?  

Up and down the Pacific west coast, sea stars have a disease called Sea Star Wasting Disease.  It can kill a group of sea stars within just 24 hours or a few days.

Scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, along with

A leather star (Dermasterias imbricata) just beginning to show signs of the disease, seen on San Juan Island in October 2013; Photo: Keith Rootsaert

other researchers remain unsure why this disease has hit the west coast sea star population so rapidly.  There is a bacterium (vibrio) that scientists have identified through pathology.  And warmer ocean waters are also suspected as a cause.

With an adult, you can participate in observing the sea star wasting symptoms.  Visit www.seastarwasting.org.

Penguins--Slip, Slap, And Slide

Funny Penguin Videos

&

How Much Do You Know

About Penguins?

 

 How many different kinds of penguins are there?

1 kind? 16 different kinds? 

Find the answer here:  www.penguinworld.com

 

  Do all penguins live on ice?

Find the answer here:  Discovery Kids

  

 What is the smallest penguin in the world?

Find the answer here:  Sea*Thos Foundation

 

What is the biggest penguin in the world?

Find the answer here:  National Geographic

But here's the biggest penguin ever:

Another Otter Cuteness Alert

Meet "Otter 649"  

Otter 649. MBA Photo

This 12-1/2-week-old male sea otter pup was rescued in November 2014.  He was just three-weeks-old and quite ill.  But Otter 649 is healthy now and lives at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA.

He doesn't have a real name yet.  He's called Otter 649 because he is the 649th stranded otter rescued  since 1984. *

The little guy can't return to the wild because he has had too much contact with humans.  

Here's the aquarium's sea otter live web cam:  Sea Otter Web Cam


* Otter 649 number comes from being the 649th stranded otter to be brought into Sea Otter Research and Conservation program .

Elephant Seal Pups Steal the Show

January 2014

Piedras Blancas Northern Elephant Seal Rookery

Central Coast of California

It's birthing time for the northern elephant seals.

Pregnant mothers make a 2500 mile swim to this beach so that they can give safe birth to their pup.

This pregnant female just arrived or "hauled out"

Each mother gives birth to just one pup. The pup weighs about 60 or 80 pounds at birth.

Pups are born with soft, black fur.

Mother northern elephant seals provide some of the richest milk around for their pups.  The pup must gain about 10 pounds each day for four weeks.

Pups gain 10 pounds a day from Mom's milk!

See how much this pup grew in just a few weeks!

This fella hasn't missed a meal in about 3-weeks.

The mothers and pups live in a "harem" -- or with 20-40 other females and pups and one big adult male.

See the big male on the right side.

The adult male is about the size of a small pickup truck.  He spends most of his time foraging near the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.  But now he'll spend about 90 days with the females and pups.

The big male vocalizing

Can you tell the difference between the male, female & pup?

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Are Orcas Too Smart for Captivity?

There is a bunch of talk recently about keeping orcas (killer whales) in captivity at popular places like Sea World. 

We know that orcas are pretty darn smart and that they can learn "tricks" and "stunts" that entertain us.  But are they miserable when captive for live?

Here's an interesting explanation of recent research that seems to say that orcas would prefer life at sea.

What do you think?