Tuesday, October 13, 2009

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

How Filmmakers Used Spy Tech to Catch Dolphin Slaughter | Wired Science | Wired.com


Another one of those depressing blog post from Wired.com, specifically because dolphins are such highly evolved animals.

The movie depicts a hunt in the waters off Taiji, Japan, where at least 2,000 dolphins are killed every year, with a few caught and sold to aquariums. The meat, containing toxic levels of mercury is sold to people, often passed off as whale meat. Dolphin killing receives less attention than whale hunts, but many scientists say their death is every bit as tragic.

Like other cetaceans, dolphins appear capable of such high-level cognition that in some ways they might be considered people. Their neurological systems of emotion and social communication are highly developed. Some researchers think their high-pitched vocalizations may contain aspects of language. They may even have names for each other.

The other point of note is:

"The cove is like a fortress. It’s protected on three sides by steep cliffs. To get in, you need to go through a natural tunnel system that’s protected by a dog and a sensor. Ric said you’d need a Navy SEAL team to get in there. I said that I didn’t know any Navy SEALs, but I did know Mandy-Ray Cruickshank,” said Psihoyos.

Cruickshank is one of the world’s top freedivers, able to dive 300 feet and come back up under her own power, capable of holding her breath for six minutes. She and freediver trainer Kirk Krack joined the team, swimming into the cove at night to install and retrieve cameras.

For once, I would really, really like to know what is it like to be the world's best of anything.

1 comment:

D said...

You seriously have to disable the autoplay! It starts every time I check your blog.

Annoying. :-O