This 'Dolphins and Whales 3D' Edukit is a great way to learn or teach students about dolphins, whales and other marine mammals.

This kit contains lots of information about whales and dolphins and can be downloaded for use in the classroom and for private purposes.

This guide is worth taking a peek! But be forewarned, once you peek, you'll have to take a little time to see everything!

It's "free" so why not Click Here!

May is Animal Guardian Month

Annual Event Highlights Service to our Animal Companions

May is "Animal Guardian Month," an annual event held since 2003 dedicated to honoring and serving our animal companions. Animal Guardian Month is part of IDA's Guardian Campaign, begun in 1999, which urges use of the term "guardian" rather than "owner" when we speak about animals. According to IDA President Dr. Elliot M. Katz, "It is time to see and treat the animals who share our lives as more than mere commodities, property and things."

This grassroots movement grew out of a collective national desire to recognize animals as individual sentient beings and to thus modify the language we use to describe our relationship with them. Actress Mary Tyler Moore is just one of many celebrities endorsing the campaign: "I like [the] term guardian as opposed to master or owner. It is an honor that is bestowed on some of us and we need to treat it that way."

Over five million U.S. citizens are officially recognized as "animal guardians" by their communities. The latest cities to officially adopt the term "guardian" in city ordinances are San Jose, Calif., the 10th largest city in the country, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "It is my sincere belief that the result of increased numbers of people thinking and acting as 'guardians' of their animal companions will lead to fewer cases of abuse, neglect and abandonment, and to fewer animals being killed in our nation's shelters," states Carl Friedman, Director, San Francisco Department of Animal Care & Control.

People working in animal protection and humane education have embraced the "guardian" language and see it as a stepping stone to changing behaviors, especially in children. "The term 'guardian' accurately describes the relationship of perpetual care that is needed to teach children respect, compassion and kindness for domestic pets. Studies show that children who learn compassion and respect for animals have a better chance at becoming compassionate adults, responsible community members, and are less likely to behave violently towards others," states Edwin J. Sayres, President, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

To mark Animal Guardian Month, IDA encourages people to volunteer at local animal shelters or help an elderly or disabled neighbor care for an animal. Other suggestions include offering a ride to the vet, arranging a play-date for a house-bound dog, offering to give an itchy dog an oatmeal bath, grooming a friend's long-haired cat, or hoisting a box of heavy cat litter for an elderly person. "Hopefully, making this a habit will extend to regular interactions with other people and other animals," Dr. Katz says, adding that "many animals could greatly benefit from the additional care and attention."

To learn how you can make your city a Guardian City, please contact Valerie Sicignano at eastcoast@idausa.org.

The Year of the Dolphin 2007 has given us the opportunity to present one species of dolphin in more detail each month. September's dolphin is Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus), a species distinctive for its large, stocky body structure and numerous scars, which was but little known until now.

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Risso's Dolphin

Risso's dolphin, also known as the Grampus, has a grey back, grey flanks and a white belly. The extremities are often darker than the rest of the body. Especially older Risso's dolphins are easily recognizable from their scars, which they get from other Risso's dolphins' teeth during intensive social interactions (the scars can also partly derive from fights with their preferred prey, the cuttlefish). In addition, the colour gets lighter with increasing age. They have teeth only at the peak of the lower jaw, used in play or fights. The upper jaw is generally toothless. Risso's dolphins are robust and, growing up to four metres in length, the fifth biggest among the dolphinids. Unfortunately, there is no definite information about the size of the remaining population. Risso's dolphins occur in groups of between three and one hundred animals, but bigger groups of up to 4000 animals have been sighted. They are often seen in the company of other whales and dolphins.

Where do Risso's dolphins live?
Risso's dolphins occur in all tropical and warm seas to the point of the sixtieth latitude in the northern and southern hemisphere, preferring a water temperature between 10 and 35 degrees Celsius. They are a pelagic species, which means that they prefer deep water and occur close to the coast only where the continental shelf slope approaches close to land or where the sea is deeper than one hundred metres inshore, e.g. at the Azores. In these waters, squid are likely to be widespread and numerous. In summertime, they are also seen in cooler waters, for instance close to Wales at the island Bardsey, where WDCS does research into these animals every year. There are indications of a seasonal migration.

Threats
Bycatch is among the worst threats to these animals, meaning that they are caught up in fishing nets and then drown. In some regions, they are intentionally killed for food or killed by fishermen who consider them to be competition. As a deep-diving species, they are also threatened by noise pollution, caused mainly by ship traffic and military sonar. This species is also heavily burdened by toxins such as mercury and chlorides, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea, but also in other regions.

Protection within the framework of international conventions
The North- and Baltic Sea populations are listed in Appendix II of the Bonn Convention for on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). In the Mediterranean Sea, the animals are protected by the regional ACCOBAMS and in the North- and Baltic Sea by the ASCOBANS Agreements. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists the animals in the category "data deficient", which means that there is not enough information available to say to what degree the Risso's dolphin is threatened.

Risso's dolphins in the waters of the North Atlantic
"Risso's dolphins are a fascinating species. In North Atlantic waters they are typically elusive although their occurrence may be underestimated as they are a large grey dolphin and may be mistaken for the similarly sized and shaped bottlenose dolphin. They are, however, a very different species with different habits. Risso's seem to prefer deeper waters, and this may relate to the fact that they prefer to eat squid that live at depth. In British waters we tend to encounter them off the west coast near islands with good access to deep zones. Little is known about them, making conservation plans difficult to develop. Nor do we have a good idea of population sizes. However, if areas can be identified that are important for them this may be a good starting point for conservation plans. In the ongoing field research conducted by WDCS in northern Cardigan in Wales, we often encounter this species and this area seems to be important for them, including for rearing their young. Close up they are quite unlike the bottlenose dolphins, beyond lacking a beak, they swim in a different way, are typically heavily scarred and have a distinctly tall dorsal fin. They are highly social and there often seems to be much communication going on between animals in a group with much dramatic splashing at the surface."

Mark Simmonds, International Director of Science for WDCS

Risso's dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea
"I was "enchanted" by Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) from the first time I saw them back in 1988 in the deep waters of the western Ligurian Sea. Although this species is widely distributed in temperate and tropical waters worldwide, very little is known about Risso's dolphins and this convinced myself to start to study them. Data on distribution, abundance, social structure, genetics and bioacoustics were collected in the past 20 years and by means the photo-identification technique it's now possible to follow the story of many individuals and in some cases from their birth. A core group of individuals is in fact present during the summer, showing a degree of site fidelity.
Risso's dolphins prefer continental slope waters with steep relief and submarine canyons and the Ligurian-Corso-Provençal basin is one of the few areas in the Mediterranean Sea where the continental shelf is close to the coast, giving especially good opportunities to observe and study this species.
Scientific results indicate that Risso's dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea are genetically differentiated from those in the eastern Atlantic. This implies that gene flow between the two areas is limited or negligible and that the Mediterranean animals constitute a distinct population.
To date, no specific conservation measures have been taken for Mediterraenan Risso's dolphins population, considered Data Deficient (DD) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, because of inadequate information to assess their extinction risk. The existence of a Marine Sanctuary for cetaceans in the Corso-Ligurian Basin, declared by the Governments of Italy, France and Monaco, has proved to be of great value for the study of Risso's dolphins, but the research on this species should be expanded, and additional areas in the region should be identified where protective measures would benefit the species."

Sabina Airoldi, Director of the Tethys Cetacean Sanctuary Research Project

WDCS does research on the Risso' dolphins within the framework of a scientific conservation programme and supports the work of Tethys in the Mediterranean Sea.

Watch a short video about the drive fisheries produced by the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition. Be aware that some of the scenes depict graphic slaughter.

Send your friends free ASPCA ecards!

A video that was broadcast by Globo TV showed Brazilian fishermen killing 83 dolphins and laughing and joking about it.

The dolphin kill apparently took place near the mouth of the Amazon River where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Brazil law makes killing dolphins punishable by up to 1.5 years in prison but nobody has been charged because the authorities claim the fishermen can not be identified yet.

Click Here to read the story on NSNBC's website!

Come and have fun with the dolphin for toddlers, preschool, and adaptable for early elementary grades (ages 2-6). Visit a theme to find lesson plans and activities that include easy instructions and a list of materials needed. You will find printable crafts, activities, coloring pages, recommended literature and related resources. Just Click Here!

Longline fishing has been illegal along the entire West Coast of the U.S. since 2004 because it poses a lethal threat to "non-target" species like whales, dolphins, sea turtles, seals, sea lions and other aquatic animals. However, the National Marine Fisheries Service is considering an extended fishing permit application that would allow longline fishing for swordfish off the coast of California and Oregon. Please "Take Action" to urge the NMFS to deny the permit.

Click Here to learn more!

In Key Largo, Fl. a stranded bottlenose dolphin named Castaway gave birth to an, as yet un-named, calf monday.

The mother, Castaway, is deaf so researchers are attempting to let the calf learn to communicate by bringing the sounds of other dolphins from a nearby lagoon into the habitat electronically.

For the whole story click here!

If you don't mind putting up with a short advertisement, you can watch this Today show Video!

As many as twenty dolphin were recently captured in the Solomon Islands to meet supply and demand for the epidemic of captive dolphin amusement parks popping up around the world. At this early stage we don't know exactly where the "Solomon Twenty" are destined for. When we find out we will inform you.

Dolphin dealer Christopher Porter of Marine Export Ltd (MEL) apparently has a buyer for twenty dolphins. Mr. Porter is working with his partners, Wildlife International Network, Inc. (WIN). You may recall that WIN is also known as Ocean Embassy (OE) in Panama. OE applied for a permit to capture eighty dolphins from Panamanian waters. A grassroots campaign is underway in Panama to stop these captures.

The Solomon Islands has a ban in place which prohibits the export of dolphins from the country, however the new government may have changed their mind about the export ban. We need to flood the prime minister -- and the newspaper -- with e-mail messages in order to stop this international traffic in captive dolphins.

The capture of wild dolphins and whales is violent, cruel, and disruptive to entire communities of cetaceans and the ecosystems in which they live. One capture method involves chasing dolphins to the point of exhaustion with high speed boats. The dolphins are then netted and dragged aboard. Undesirable dolphins (the old, the very young, the weak, injured, or sick) are thrown back into the sea, while the young, healthy specimens that meet aquarium specifications are kept for sale and transport.

Another method also involves chasing the animals with boats and herding them into enclosed bays or makeshift sea pens, where they are trapped and frequently separated from family members. (Dolphins and whales live in tightly knit social units, known as pods. In the case of orca whales, the pods stay together for life.) -Please take action to ask the Prime Minister to uphold the ban on dolphin exports from the Solomon Islands today! Please urge friends and family to contact him as well. Also send a copy of your letter to the Solomon Star newspaper: solstar@welkam.solomon.com.sb.

-Read an article in The Age on the capture.

Dr. Paul Spong has made it possible for us to see and hear Orcas on live feeds from his live webcasting base on Cracroft Point.

Nature Networks 2006 "live" webcast has ended but we will inform you when it begins again.

OrcaLive Highlights from 2003: 2003 Video

Learn more about Dr. Spong by watching this interview: Dr. Paul Spong Interview

You can learn much about the Orca by viewing these cards from the Nature Network: The Orca

Here's a copy of my latest newsletter from the Year Of The Dolphin website. I thought some of you might be interested. You can sign up for the newsletter by visiting their site.

Whale or Dolphin?

Scientists are working on finding a biological division of species taking into account which species are more closely related to each other. Cetaceans are accordingly divided into toothed whales and baleen whales, and under this classification not only do the river dolphins belong to the toothed whales but also the dolphin-like whales, to which in turn belongs the dolphin family. Also part of this group is the Long-finned pilot whale, whose English name does not suggest that it is a dolphin at all. Yet the system (biological division according to genetic proximity) is based on evolutionary relationships as opposed to the layman's view which is more connected with outward appearances.

How and where do Pilot whales live?

Pilot whales occur in cold, temperature and sub polar waters both in the northern and southern hemispheres. They prefer deeper water, and some therefore live in the open sea all of the time and others follow the migration of squid (their favourite food) from the high seas to coastal areas and back. Pilot whales are pitch black or dark grey with a dorsal fin which bends backwards. The forehead area is markedly rounded. The shape of their heads used to remind whalers in the olden days of black cooking pans, from which derived its alternative name of "pothead whale". Pilot whales are very social animal, which migrate in groups of up to 100 individuals, under the leadership of one animal. These large dolphins are often involved in mass strandings because the family ties among the group are very strong and the entire school tends to stick to a single stranded animal. The most pressing threat is posed by fishing nets and direct hunting is blamed for the decline of the population. The Bern Convention and the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) prohibit the hunting of pilot whales and have placed this species under protection. The pilot whale is listed on Appendix II of the Bonn Convention.

WDCS supports pilot whale research

The Italian Tethys Research Institute is investigating the Long-finned pilot whale in the Ligurian Sea between the coasts of Italy, Monaco, France and Corsica with the support of WDCS. Every summer interested lay people join scientists on board the sailing boat Pelagos to be initiated into research work. All whale and dolphin enthusiasts over the age of 18 are welcome, the only requirements is to have sound knowledge of English and the readiness to work as part of a team.

For t-shirts and buttons with this design, visit Year Of The Dolphin Tees!

By adopting a dolphin, you can help stop big conglomerate, foreign fishing agencies from destroying strong "dolphin safe" tuna labeling rules. They want to be able to sell you tuna that has been caught using dangerous practices that can kill dolphins and still label it "dolphin safe."

Defenders of Wildlife is fighting back in court against the Bush Administration's attempt to weaken the dolphin-safe label so your support is more important than ever. We are challenging new regulations that would allow dolphin-deadly tuna to be labeled as dolphin-safe. So far, we've been successful, but the battle rages on.

You can help Defenders of Wildlife win the battle to keep dolphins safe and protect endangered wildlife for the sake of our children and grandchildren -- Adopt a Dolphin right now.

For those of you who are interested in watching a disturbing video on the capture of dolphins, please Click Here

It takes a minute ot two to load so please be patient.

Keeping highly intelligent animals such as dolphins in captivity is extremely cruel. Many dolphins die in the capture process. The dolphins who are captured are taken from their families. They are condemned to spend the rest of their lives in cement tanks, often in unsanitary conditions, forced to perform tricks for food.

People love dolphins, but they often suffer a failure of empathy and imagination. They do not make the connection that to bring a dolphin into these preposterously unnatural circumstances requires that dolphins be ripped from their natural environment, kidnapped from their families and pod mates, held in nets, carried in trucks, hoisted into planes and flown to distant locations. Many die in the process. Those that survive are condemned to a life in a cement tank, listening to the interminable hum of the filtration system and the screams of the audience.

This article is from BlueVoice.org.

The year 2007 has been declared as (International) Year of the Dolphin by the United Nations and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Wild dolphins are intrinsically tied to our cultural history and awareness. Living in the world's oceans and rivers, they are a living treasure of our blue planet. However their survival is becoming increasingly difficult. Wild dolphins need clean and quiet oceans, protected areas and people who care.

The UN Convention on Migratory Species, together with its specialized agreements on dolphin conservation ACCOBAMS and ASCOBANS and the WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society have declared 2007 the Year of the Dolphin.

Teachers can get activity packs by contacting: Jess Feghali-Brown at WDCS, Brookfield House, 38 St Paul Street, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 1LJ,

Vist the official Year Of The Dolphin site Here!

For details or to order this "Year Of The Dolphin" design Click Here!

Some claim that dolphins have the power to heal. It has been suggested that dolphins can alleviate depression and promote a healing response but this is still somewhat controversial, and according to many dolphin scientists, is without any real scientific basis.

Water Planet has a "Harmony Program" where children with Autism, Down Syndrome or ADHD swim with dolphins. They claim to have noticed a significant improvement in communication skills with children who have participated in this program.

Water Planet will be conducting several sessions during the spring/summer of 2007. As of April 22, they still had availability for the following sessions: May 06 through 11, June 10 through 15, July 08 through 13, August 05 through 10.

You can learn more by visiting their site and contacting them.

As I learn of more personal experiences with the healing power of dolphins, I will either add them here or provide links to the information.

The Healing Power Of Dolphins Links:

Operation Sunshine!

Dolphin Assisted Therapy

A Psychodynamic Perspective

"Photo: Protected Resouces Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, California. swfsc.nmfs.noaa.gov/PRD/"

Do you have a friend or ralative who will be coming home from Iraq shortly? When I was in the service we enjoyed letting everyone know that we'd be going home and were "short-timers".

These Short-Timer t-shirts and buttons make great gifts for your favorite soldier.

Orcas are distinctively marked, with a black back, white chest and sides, and a white patch above and behind the eye. Calves are born with a yellowish or orange tint, which fades to white. Orcas have a heavy and stocky body and a large dorsal fin with a dark grey "saddle patch" at the fin's rear. Males can be up to 9.5 m long (31 ft) and weigh in excess of 6 tonnes; it has been reported that especially large males have reached nearer 8 tonnes. Females are smaller, reaching up to 8.5 m (28 ft) and a weight of about 5 tonnes. The longest Orca ever recorded was a male from Washington state, measuring 9.8 m (32 ft). Calves at birth weigh about 180 kg and are about 2.4 m long (8 ft). The Orca's large size and strength make them one of the fastest marine mammals, often reaching speeds in excess of 56 km/h (35mph).

Unlike most dolphins, the pectoral fin of an Orca is large and rounded - more of a paddle than other dolphin species. Males have significantly larger pectoral fins than females. At about 1.8 m (6 ft), the dorsal fin of the male is more than twice the size of the female's, and is more of a triangle shape - a tall, elongated isosceles triangle, whereas the dorsal fin of the female is shorter and generally more curved.

Adult male Orcas are very distinctive and are unlikely to be confused with any other sea creature. When seen from a distance in temperate waters, adult females and juveniles can be confused with various other species, such as the False Killer Whale or Risso's Dolphin.

An orca skull.Individual Orcas can be identified from a good photograph of the animal's dorsal fin and saddle patch, taken when it surfaces. Variations such as nicks, scratches, and tears on the dorsal fin, and the pattern of white or grey in the saddle patch, are sufficient to distinguish Orcas from each other. For the well-studied Orcas of the northeast Pacific, catalogues have been published with the photograph and name of each Orca. Photo-identification has enabled the local population of Orcas to be counted each year rather than estimated, and has enabled great insight into Orca lifecycles and social structures.

For more information on Orcas, visit Orcas On Wikipedia!

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

River dolphins are some of the most endangered of all the world's cetaceans. Due to habitat loss, hunting by humans, and naturally low numbers, they are extremely vulnerable to extinction. Also, many river dolphins also possess very poor eyesight - some are considered blind - which can lead to unfortunate encounters with humans or manmade objects (boats or fishing nets for example).

Some dolphin species can live in marine or riverine environments. The Tucuxi, for example, is equally at home in both ecotypes. However, these are not classified in the Platanistoidea superfamily and are therefore not regarded as true river dolphins.

For more on River Dolphins visit: River Dolphins On Wikipedia!

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Oceanic dolphins are the members of the Delphinidae family of cetaceans. These aquatic mammals are related to whales and porpoises.

As the name implies, these dolphins tend to be found in the open seas, unlike the river dolphins, although a few species such as the Irrawaddy Dolphin are coastal or riverine.

Six of the larger species in the Delphinidae, the Orca and the Pilot, Melon-headed, Pygmy Killer and False Killer Whales, are commonly called whales, rather than dolphins. They are also sometimes collectively known as "blackfish".

The Delphinidae vary in size from 1.2 metres and 40 kg (Heaviside's Dolphin), up to 7 meters and 4.5 tonnes (the Orca). Most species weigh between about 50 and about 200 kg. They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and all are carnivores, mostly taking fish and squid.

For more on oceanic dolphins visit: Oceanic Dolphins On Wikipedia!

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Commerson's Dolphin has a very distinctive patterning. It has a black head, dorsal fin, and fluke, with a white throat and body. The demarcation between the two colours is very clear-cut. In shape and size-the creature is stocky and grows to around 1.5 m. Its appearance resembles that of a porpoise, but its conspicuous behaviour is typical of a dolphin. The dorsal fin has a long, straight leading edge which ends in a curved tip. The trailing is typically concave but not falcate. The fluke has a notch in the middle. This dolphin has no beak.

Females reach breeding age at six to nine years. Males reach sexual maturation at about the same age. Mating occurs in the spring and summer and calving occurs after a gestation period of 11 months. The oldest known Commerson's Dolphin died at age 18.

The species is distributed in two locations. The larger population is found inshore in various inlets in Argentina, in the Strait of Magellan and near the Falkland Islands. The second population (discovered in the 1950s) resides near the Kerguelen Islands, 8,000 km to the east of their nearest special cousins. They prefer shallow waters. Global populations are unknown, but the species is accepted to be locally common. A survey in 1984 estimated there to be 3,400 individuals in the Strait of Magellan.

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

If you enjoy looking at dolphin pictures or want to
use them as background on your desktop, print them out and put them on your wall, show them to your friends or use them for school projects Click Here!

These pictures are copyrighted so you are not allowed to:
Use them on your web page.
Put them on other servers or online services.
Use them for your business.

If you've made it to the bottom of this page I feel complimented because it means that something on this lens has peaked your interest, and that's why I made it. So now I'll tell you a little about myself.

As I said in my profile, I enjoy collecting and since I retired I've found that building these lenses is a great way to stay busy; And, I hope that I'm helping some of you out by gathering information on your favorite subject and putting it all in one place so you don't have to spend hours searching for it.

I spend part of my time designing t-shirts and buttons to help supplement my social security because, as many of you know, it's pretty difficult to make it on social security. My on-line t-shirt shop is called Dene's Place after my wife.

My "retirement" came a few years earlier than I would have liked because they found that I have an inoperatable tumor about the size of a softball in my right pelvic area. They still don't know what to do about it because for now it has quit growing. One of those "leave it alone and see what happens" type things.

Anyway, if you've made it this far, I'd appreciate it if you would check out Dene's Place to see if there's anything that you might like for yourself or as a gift. It helps me pay the bills!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out my other lenses when you have time.

While I'm far from being an expert on Dolphins I feel that it's a crime the way that they are treated so I spend a lot of time searching for information on the subject so that I can assemble it here. It helps both me and those visiting this site to have just one place to go for this information.

Much of the information used here has been researched from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.