A humpback whale has been found dead in the Thames River. The actual picture can be found thru the link. It had most likely died of starvations. I had recently heard about the Portuguese Man of War being found in a bunch of places it shouldn't be as well. I don't know why exactly but I am getting increasingly more and more worried about global warming as every day passes. I just watched that documentary "The Future of Food." Man, that was upsetting too. Maybe I'll post about that too later, but I likely won't. If you have a Netflix account you should add it to your queue. If you don't have a Netflix account you should look into getting one because you can just click on a movie and stream it there on your computer.... unlimited.

Weird question, but can anyone else tell by looking at a picture of water what the temperature roughly is? It sounds silly, but I just found out it isn't common knowledge. I swam competitively for over 10 years and you can tell a lot about a pool, lake, or ocean by just looking at the surface of the water. I can tell the picture of the whale I posted is in cold water, not off Hawaii. The easiest way to put it into words is the more active or choppy the water is the colder it is, the more it "rolls" the warmer it is - warm water is a lot more smooth (even with waves).

Endemic Species

Like I've said before, on the weekend I tend to distance myself from politics. So please forgive me for the slew of non-political posts.

I strongly encourage any nature lovers to check look at this photo series of Socotra Island off the coast of Africa. It is in an island chain that has been isolated from the rest of the world for 7 million years, like Galapagos, so their evolution has taken a different path as well. It is home to over 700 extremely rare species, 30% of which are found no where else on Earth.

Rare Photo Taken in Afghanistan

Sometimes geopolitical events warp our perception. This picture kind of surprised me a bit because I had never given thought to the wildlife in Afghanistan. This rare photo of a snow leopard was taken with a camera trap in the Wakhan Corridor in northeastern Afghanistan.

More at the New York Times.

Baby Panda

The new baby panda at the San Diego Zoo is two weeks old today. Momma is still keeping him close to her to keep him warm and safe. She leaves the den periodically now to eat, take care of business, and get water. When she is out the baby can be clearly seen. He has now developed the black markings of a panda. The Zoo has a 24-hour webcam in the maternity den (using night vision technology).

Here's a link to the site http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/index.html

There's also a "blog" with messages from pandaholics from all over posting, and a section that introduces all of the pandas currently at the zoo and those who were there but have moved on -- two of those are babies that were born at SDZ but have gone back to China.

Pandas Face Extinction

There are two endangered species that I have been supporting for years -- whooping cranes and pandas. The great panda is the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund. Thousands of years ago pandas were found all over China, however they are now found only in small isolated regions of southwest China and their habitat is becoming smaller all the time.

It is now becoming so small that they may be extinct in the wild within 2 or 3 decades according to this article:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6041990/Chinas-giant-panda-faces-extinction-in-two-to-three-generations.html

There are estimated to be only about 1,600 wild pandas left now. As usual the most immediate threat to their existence is man and development. At only 1600 left in the wild the gene pool diversity is seriously in danger.It made me so sad when I read this story today. If we, as a species, are unable to find the where with all to be able to save less than 2,000 of an endangered species, what does that say for our ability to save ourselves from extinction?
Endangered Species, Environment, Giant Pandas