Offshore Wind Farms Act as Hunting Grounds for Seals: Study

(Photo : Wikimedia Commons )

Off shore wind farms act as hunting grounds for seals, a new study shows.

Researchers at the University of St Andrews used GPS tracking to monitor seals' movements. The team found that the animals regularly visited offshore wind farms and looked for food. Scientists believe that the artificial structures are acting as man-made reefs and altering animals' behavior.

The study was conducted by Dr Deborah Russell and is published in the journal Current Biology.

Movement of seals around wind farms and water pipes surprised Russell and colleagues.

For the study, scientists tagged harbor and gray seals on the British and Dutch coasts of the North Sea. They found that 11 harbor seals near two active wind farms - Alpha Ventus in Germany and Sheringham Shoal in the southeast UK. Researchers found that the seals moved in a grid-like pattern near the farms.

"I was shocked when I first saw the stunning grid pattern of a seal track around Sheringham Shoal" - an offshore wind farm in Norfolk," Russell said in a news release "You could see that the seal appeared to travel in straight lines between turbines, as if he was checking them out for potential prey and then stopping to forage at certain ones."

The team has found that man-made structures in oceans affect marine animals, but hasn't really shown the extent of this change in behavior.

"Only a small proportion of our study seals utilized wind farms or pipelines," Russell said in a news release. "At present these structures cover a small proportion of the extent of the at-sea distribution of seals. As wind farms become more extensive, many more seals will likely be affected."

Researchers hope to carry out further research to understand how massive developmental projects affect animal populations.

Great White Beaten by its Appetite

Last week, a massive great white shark was found bead between Geraldton and Shark Bay, Western Australia with no visible wounds or infection on its body. Now, investigators are reporting an unusual cause of death - over eating. (Photo : Wiki CC0)

Last week, a massive great white shark was found bead between Geraldton and Shark Bay, Western Australia with no visible wounds or infection on its body. Now, investigators are reporting an unusual cause of death, over eating.

According to the Australian Department of Fisheries, the 13-foot-long (4 meters) male shark - smaller than its female counterparts - was not injured or diseased. However, it did happen to have particularly beefy Australian sea lion lodged inside its throat.

"This could explain why the shark was exhibiting such unusual behavior in shallow waters off Coronation Beach. It is possible that the shark was trying to dislodge the blockage," Principal Research Scientist Rory McAuley said in a statement.

Two days before the shark's body was found, video footage was uploaded to YouTube showing a Great White thrashing in shallow water off Coronation beach in Gerldton, Australia.

"Oy! We're trying to take a photo!" one onlooker exclaimed as the shark's thrashing tail threw water in his general direction. "He's not very happy is he?"

Eventually the shark slipped back into deeper waters, but not it's clear that he never received the Heimlich maneuver he so desperately needed.

"Such a large object may have damaged the shark's internal organs or impeded water flow into his gills, contributing to his death," said McAuley. "Alternatively, the shark may have accidentally become stranded in his attempts to get rid of the obstruction."

Although the Department of Fisheries did not release the exact measurements of the sea lion, it is not hard to imagine that this shark simply bit off more than it could chew.

According to the Australian Department of Environment, adult male sea lions can grow up to 90 inches long and can weigh up to 550 pounds. Trying to shove all that down its gullet - great white sized appetite or not - certainly doesn't seem like the best of ideas.

Great White Shark Sightings Boost Tourism in Cape Cod

Though you may think that great white shark sightings would detract Cape Cod beachgoers, the ferocious predators are in fact boosting tourism in the area, increasing sales for shark paraphernalia as well as local boat tours. (Photo : Davidpstephens / Fotolia)

Though you may think that great white shark sightings would detract Cape Cod beachgoers, the ferocious predators are in fact boosting tourism in the area, increasing sales for shark paraphernalia as well as local boat tours.

Harbormasters have issued safety warnings, but unlike "Jaws," the sharks are not usually seen as a threat to friendly swimmers, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

Just last month, an NOAA study found that great white shark populations are on the rise in the Western North Atlantic. Sightings have soared from generally fewer than two annually before 2004 to more than 20 in each of the last few years off Cape Cod.

And it seems that their growing numbers are stirring more curiosity than fear.

"White sharks are this iconic species in society and it draws amazing amounts of attention," Gregory Skomal, a senior marine fisheries biologist who also leads the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, told the AP. "I have not been approached by anyone who has said to me 'let's go kill these sharks.'"

The change of opinion seems odd given that just this May a shark brochure distributed in none other than Cape Cod, meant to raise awareness about the predators, seemed to be instilling more fear than caution.

More great whites have been coming to the town of Chatham, in particular, thanks to the area's robust gray seal population, which has grown after conservation efforts. Sharks have been swimming closer to shore to feed on the seals, prompting officials to warn tourists.

"You have to make sure people understand," Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross said, "if they go to the beach and they see a family of seals there, that's probably not the best place to hang out."

However, tourists can safely observe the seals by going on boat tours. And as far as showing their interest in these great whites, various trinkets are sold in local shops that range from hoodies to candy to stuffed animals.

"I mean, truthfully, we've probably grown about 500 percent in terms of the sale of our shark apparel," Justin Labdon, owner of the Cape Cod Beach Chair Company, added of the recent shark paraphernalia frenzy.

Snooty the Manatee Celebrates 66th Birthday with Fans and Friends

Birthdays are always special, but none quite get the same fanfare that Snooty the manatee, the world's oldest sea cow, gets each and every year. (Photo : Facebook)

Birthdays are always special, but none quite get the same fanfare that Snooty the manatee, the world's oldest sea cow, gets each and every year.

Like every July 21, this year hundreds of fans and friends from all over the state flocked to the South Florida Museum in Bradenton to celebrate Snooty's birthday. This year, the birthday party was held in advance on Saturday, and as always, any friend of Snooty's got in free.

At a ripe age of 66, the giant sea cow is the oldest manatee in captivity, and possibly one of the oldest ever.

"If you lived in a pool where people gave you a bath and fed you lettuce by hand and you had no other predators and the water was always a nice warm temperature, you'd be living long too," Brynne Anne Besio, executive director of the South Florida Museum, told The Associated Press (AP). "He's protected, he's safe, he has a great diet, he has regular medical care, and so he's got all the odds for him in terms of living long."

Thankfully, the 1,000-pound mammal is in good health, cutely munching on 80 pounds of lettuce each day and swimming around in his tank with two other smaller manatees being treated for cold stress.

Snooty was born in 1948 in captivity after Miami fishermen captured his mother, who was pregnant with him at the time. And ever since, hundreds have been visiting him, coming back each year to wish him a happy birthday.

"We are down here every year for his birthday," Julie DeJarette, talking of her and her daughter Ashley, said, according to YottaFire. "I think she's been coming to see Snooty since she was born."

Not only is Snooty fun to look at, but he also raises awareness for manatees and other wildlife in Florida.

Manatees can live up to 20 or 30 years on their own, yet the average manatee doesn't usually survive past 10 years old in the wild. After all, the wild holds many dangers, mostly from humans, that those in captivity like Snooty don't have to worry about. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, manatees get killed when they are hit by watercraft, trapped in pipes, crushed in floodgates, or poached.

"It's tough to be a manatee in Florida," Robert Bonde, a research biologist and manatee expert for the US Geological Survey, told the AP.

Snooty has been named "ambassador for all other manatees," and every year that he celebrates his birthday hundreds also celebrate this unique species.

"Every year we celebrate a birthday for Snooty, it sets a new records as far as the aging potential for manatees," Bonde added.

Decoding Birdsong With Learning Computers

Experts have developed an experimental computer program that can accurately identify bird songs from hundreds of various tweets and chirps. This could potentially bring them closer to identifying the use and differences of these chirps, information that could be usefully in understanding language among all animals. (Photo : Pixabay)

Experts have developed an experimental computer program that can accurately identify bird songs from hundreds of various tweets and chirps. This could potentially bring them closer to identifying the use and differences of these chirps, information that could be usefully in understanding language among all animals.

Details of the program are presented in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed journal aptly named Peer J.

"If you go out in to a forest and want to know what you hear, there are hundreds of possible results. Now we are closer to having an app that can really let us do that," lead author Dan Stowel told BBC News.

According to the study, Stowel wanted to increase the accuracy of preexisting strategies for identifying and "decoding" bird songs not by adding more pre-programmed rules of identification, but by setting up the parameters for "machine learning."

Machine learning is quickly catching on in fields where complex data processing is essential. Instead of writing out strict rules for a program to follow, programmers instead write a very lose rule set, introducing a program to base data that it can elaborate on through its own experiences.

Nature World News previous featured several different ways various artificial intelligences and programs are using this today, but we certainly didn't consider decoding birdsong as a viable application.

Now, Stowel is doing just that.

"Given a set of recordings, each of them with a list of the bird species present, I was able to 'train' a computer system by showing it these labeled examples," he said.

(Photo : pixabay)

According to Stowel, his program, which 'learns' from its efforts using a simple classification algorithm has proven more accurate at identifying various songs in field tests, compared to rigid acoustic measuring algorithms guided by a complex rule set.

"Birdsong is extremely complex. The simplest sounds are often the most difficult, because they can sound so alike," he explained.

It is difficult for rigid programs to overcome these similarities, but a program that learns from its experiences can more easily adjust for error.

According to the study, programs like this may one day not only help ecologists identify birds populations, but also aid linguist in understanding various songs.

A recent Nature World News article detailed how some experts believe that the songs of birds and singing apes hold the secrets to how the human language came to be, and Stowel believes that his work can help prove this to be true.

However, it will still be some time until the software has "learned" all it will need to know.