All News

About 2,500 penguins en route to their Antarctic mating grounds could be sickened by a diesel fuel spill from a Canadian cruise ship that struck an iceberg and sank last week. A marine biologist says areas surrounding the almost two kilometre-long spill site include breeding grounds for Antarctic and Adelia penguins, and the largest mating colony for Papua penguins. Maria Jose Rosello, a Chilean marine biologist, says: "The danger is that this fuel spill will impede the journey that species like Papua penguins make at this time of year. Rosello says the area is also home to seals, petrels and other sea birds
continue

US lawmakers urged Japan to limit its whale hunt and use other, non-lethal means to conduct scientific research on whales. Democratic and Republican senators sent a letter Thursday to Japan's ambassador in Washington asking the country to "reconsider its impending hunt of approximately 1 000 whales, including fin and protected humpback whales
continue

The United Nations watchdog on endangered species said Friday it is launching a database to track the international trade in caviar and tackle its illegal trade. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species said the database will record details of all permits and certificates that authorize trade in caviar, and will help detect and deter fraudulent applications
continue

Finally, some good news about the prospects of coral reefs in the age of climate change. According to a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, corals may actually survive rising ocean temperatures in 'tough love' seas with wide-ranging temperatures. Researchers discovered that coral reefs in sites with varying seasonal temperatures are more likely to survive the 'hot pulses' of Climate Change. Conversely, reefs living in environments with stable but higher temperatures are more susceptible to "bleaching," a global phenomenon where beneficial algae are "evicted" by corals, ultimately leading to the reef's demise
continue

A fossilized shark that swallowed a crocodile-like amphibian that, in turn, had gobbled up a fish has now been unearthed. This exceptional find marks the first time scientists have found direct evidence of such a complex, extinct food chain. In the past, researchers had uncovered evidence of what past species ate based on the fossilized contents of their guts or droppings. For instance, fossilized dung, or "coprolites," have revealed some dinosaurs ate grass
continue

A ten-week expedition to the Lazarev Sea and the eastern part of the Weddell Sea opens this year's Antarctic research season of the German research vessel Polarstern. On the evening of November 28, just some two hours after an official ceremony at the Berlin Museum of Natural History honouring Polarstern's 25th anniversary of service, the research vessel will begin its 24th scientific voyage to the Southern Ocean from Cape Town. The 53 scientists from eight nations aboard Polarstern will focus much of their work on climate-related research as part of the International Polar Year
continue

To create awareness to the worldside shark-finning problem, the Protect the Sharks Foundation has created the International Shark Photo Exposition (ISPE). Sharks are particularly vulnerable to overexloitation because they reproduce very slowly
continue

Just a quick update from the road ... After a week of rain and foul weather, the sky finally cleared up and we hit the water. As we continue our exploration of the unknown reefs and marine ecosystems of Guatemala, which otherwise has been a lot of fun and very productive, we came across a gruesome find - a shark processing facility
continue

Our friends at Scubaportal posted a crazy video of the potential hazards of feeding wildlife. The don't call it wildfor nothing! Of course feedinganimals poses risks to both parties
continue

The immense fossilised claw of a 2.5m-long (8ft) sea scorpion has been described by European researchers
continue