Category Archives: Gray Whales: Celebration of Conservation

Celebration of Conservation Highlights: Elephant Seal 6967 Follow Up

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Welcome Teachers. This month we’re posting some of the blogs and activities from our most recent Virtual Research Missions: Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND.  We’ll post the email from the Science Team member, plus photos, videos, activities, Explorer mini-posters (bios) or other related information or links. For our programs, teachers pick and choose, mix and match the blogs, photos, activities…etc. in what ever way works best with their class.

Here’s another one from Patrick Robinson part of Team Elephant Seal from our Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Enjoy

SEAMAIL™: Elephant Seal 6967 Follow up from Patrick Robinson

(NOTE: For classroom use only. Seamails, photos, activities and other related curricula are copyrighted and trademarked and cannot be sold, posted, repackaged, or used in any other way without written permission of WhaleTimes, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Celebration of Conservation Highlights: Hello from Año Nuevo

Posted on by whaleweb

Welcome Teachers. This month we’re posting some of the blogs and activities from our most recent Virtual Research Missions: Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND.  We’ll post the email from the Science Team member, plus photos, videos, activities, Explorer mini-posters (bios) or other related information or links. For our programs, teachers pick and choose, mix and match the blogs, photos, activities…etc. in what ever way works best with their class.

Here’s another one from Patrick Robinson part of Team Elephant Seal from our Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Enjoy

SEAMAIL™:  Hello From Año Nuevo from Patrick Robinson

(NOTE: For classroom use only. Seamails, photos, activities and other related curricula are copyrighted and trademarked and cannot be sold, posted, repackaged, or used in any other way without written permission of WhaleTimes, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Celebration of Conservation Highlights: Long Distance Traveler

Posted on by whaleweb

Celebration of Conservation Highlights: Meet the Long Distance Traveler

Welcome Teachers. This month we’re posting some of the blogs and activities from our most recent Virtual Research Missions: Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND.  We’ll post the email from the Science Team member, plus photos, videos, activities, Explorer mini-posters (bios) or other related information or links. For our programs, teachers pick and choose, mix and match the blogs, photos, activities…etc. in what ever way works best with their class.

Here’s another one from Dave Weller from our Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Enjoy

SEAMAIL™: Meet the Long Distance Traveler from Dr. Weller

(NOTE: For classroom use only. Seamails, photos, activities and other related curricula are copyrighted and trademarked and cannot be sold, posted, repackaged, or used in any other way without written permission of WhaleTimes, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Virtual Research Mission blogs

Posted on by whaleweb

Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND Seamails™

Welcome Teachers. This month we’re posting some of the Seamails and activities from our most recent Virtual Research Missions: Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND.  We’ll post the email from the Science Team member, plus photos, videos, activities, Explorer mini-posters (bios) or other related information or links. For our programs, teachers pick and choose, mix and match the Seamails, photos, activities…etc. how ever you would like to use them with your class. (We put the blog — aka Seamail in pdf format for ease of use in the classroom.)

Here’s the first one from Dave Weller from  the Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Enjoy

Celebration of Conservation Highlights:

TEAM GRAY WHALE

(NOTE: For classroom use only. Seamails, photos, activities and other related curricula are copyrighted and trademarked and cannot be sold, posted, repackaged, or used in any other way without written permission of WhaleTimes, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Thank you to all our summer camps and Science Teams!

Posted on by whaleweb

Wow, it has been the fastest summer yet! Kindergarten to 8th grade kids from across the country participated in two WhaleTimes’ virtual research missions. They danced to DNA, made vaquita wind socks, and created elephant seal tags. The kids also dazzled the Science Team members with their knowledge and challenged them with thought-provoking questions during the 30+ Skype™ sessions.

Our Creep into the DEEPEND Summer Camp program took kids to the deep sea in the Gulf of Mexico with the DEEPEND Science Team. They met cool animals and even cooler research and researchers while discovering  DEEPEND Consortium’s important deep-sea research.

Kids joined Patrick W. Robinson,  Dave Weller, Barbara Taylor,  Daniel Costa and their Science Teams from the UC-Santa Cruz, Costa Lab, UC Año Nuevo Island Reserve and Southwest Fisheries Science Center/NOAA (vaquita and gray whale research) as part of our Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Summer camp kids learned about the beautiful gray whale, the amazing elephant seal, and the shy vaquita. The kids heard the successful conservation stories of the elephant seal and gray whale. Conservation efforts that saved both species from extinction. Summer campers also learned that the vaquita’s conservation story is still being written. With less than 30 vaquita left, we don’t know if it’ll have a happy ending or not.

Through both WhaleTimes’ programs our summer camp kids learned two important lessons. 1) Everybody makes a difference when it comes to conservation; 2) Everyone can help save ocean animals by only buying and/or eating sustainably caught seafood (when you are hankering for seafood).

Thank you to our Science Team Members, volunteers, and the museums and science centers for making it another amazing summer!

  • DEEPEND Research and Creep into the DEEPEND program funded by funded by Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GOMRI) award number GOMRI2014-IV-914
  • The Celebration of Conservation Elephant Seal Team’s research funded in part by: The Office of Naval Research, Joint Industry Program, Año Nuevo Reserve; gray whale and vaquita research supported by Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries. The education program portion funded by WhaleTimes and supported by volunteer time and effort from the Science Teams themselves and WhaleTimes’ volunteers.

Thank you to our museum and science centers for letting us make a splash at your summer camps!

If you missed your chance to join us at a summer camp near you, the program will be back next year.

   

Vaquita Update June 2017: Next Step

Posted on by whaleweb

Fifty vaquitas left, no, thirty, wait…seven more found dead in the last few months. The news is bleak for vaquitas as the population continues to decline.

A vaquita is a porpoise and the most endangered whale  in the world. Less than 30 survive.

Efforts to stop illegal fishing of the (critically endangered) totoaba and use of gillnets has been at the forefront of scientists and the Mexican Government. Unfortunately, vaquitas (and totoabas) continue to die. With the latest CIRVA report, scientists now believe the only way to save vaquita from extinction is to try to capture the porpoises and put them in safety away from gillnets. “The Mexican government and its conservation partners have organized a live capture effort to try to save the vaquita from extinction….” Read more in this Vaquita Update (courtesy of the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

When you eat seafood, and only eat or buy sustainable seafood.  Find out how: What is Sustainable?

Are you doing everything you can to protect the ocean? Take the 30 Days to a Sustainable You Survey and find out.

The power to protect ocean animals like the vaquita is in your hands.

 

Celebration of Conservation SUMMER CAMPS!

Posted on by whaleweb

NEW! Celebration of Conservation Summer Camps.  This summer, museums and science centers throughout the country will offer WhaleTimes’ Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephants Seals, and Vaquita Summer Camps. 

Our  Celebration of Conservation highlights three important marine conservation stories – two successful stories and one still being written.  As part of TEAM VAQUITA, students learn about gray whales, elephant seals, and vaquita.  Gray whales and elephant seals were once so close extinction it’s amazing either species survived. Due to protection efforts and public awareness, both species are thriving. Both have been delisted (removed) from the endangered species list.  Vaquita, a kind of porpoise, needs that same kind of happy ending. It is the most endangered whale in the world. There are only 30 vaquita left in the world.

To register or find out more, check out the list below and contact the museum or science center near you.

Adventure Science Center Nashville, Tennessee
Catawba Science Center Hickory, North Carolina
Liberty Science Center Jersey City, New Jersey
Maine Discovery Museum Bangor, Maine
Museum of Discovery and Science Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Oceanscape Network Newport, Oregon
Pacific Science Center Seattle, WA
St. Louis Science Center St. Louis, Missouri
Tallahassee Museum Tallahassee, Florida
Univ of Michigan Museum of Natural History Ann Arbor, Michigan
Museum of Discovery and Science Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

 

     

Video: Whale Behaviors

Posted on by whaleweb

Hello Virtual Science Team Members!

The team at Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Oceanscape Network has created an excellent video about whale behaviors for you. This installment of Oceanscape Network’s Science in Seconds provides footage of common whale behaviors you can observe from the water’s surface, whether you’re on a boat or watching whales from shore. Enjoy!

Thanks Oceanscape! And, Virtual Science Team Members, don’t forget to visit the Oceanscape Network at: oceanscape.aquarium.org

Jake, the SeaDog

WhaleTimes

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Baleen and Toothed Whales

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Our Gray Whales: Celebration of Conservation Mission is under way!

A gray whale is a baleen whale. A killer whale is a toothed whale. What’s the difference? This installment of Oceanscape Network’s Science in Seconds provides footage and information about the differences between baleen and toothed whales. Enjoy!

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Gray Whales…arriving soon!

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Join WhaleTimes, Southwest Fisheries Science Center/NOAA and the Oceanscape Network, for Gray Whales: Celebration of Conservation, a Virtual Research Mission that connects gray whale biologists with students, teachers, and the public. This event runs April 20 to May 1, 2015.

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