friendship

I recently watched a video on seaTV that had to do with friendship between wild polar bears and huskies. The polar bears started playing with the huskies and the huskies seemed excited to have some new friends. Instead of writing my thoughts about this I thought it would be a good idea to interview may friend Ricky the raccoon on what he thinks about this.

(recorded interview)

"Hey Ricky"

Ricky: "Hey kiddo"

"Do you mind if I can interview you about the polar bears playing with the huskies?"

Ricky: "Sure but make it fast. I need to get to the dumpster before all the other raccoons get there first"

Ricky what is your reaction to this friendly playing? My reaction to this was at first was maybe the polar bears are not hungry or they think huskies are baby polar bears. But I can see it now. Genuine friendship. A special bond that exists only with friends. Also polar bears are very social and they can make many friends.

Do think friendships could happen between two different species of animals? Yes I do think two different species can have a friendship.You and I are living examples of this, a raccoon and a sea otter.

What do you think of the friendship of the these animals have? I think it is a wonderful thing that these two animals can be friends. Especially with global warming and the loss of fish these polar bears could be hungry and instead of attacking and eating them(huskies) , they are playing with them. Beautiful. Total innocence.

Do you think humans can have a friendship like this? Yes.Yes I do. Though not all humans , only some, especially those humans who know about the environment and wildlife. The nice ones, the ones who leave the garbage pail lid open .(laughing raccoon)

Oh yeah.(laughing sea otter) next question. The owner was standing and watching the polar bears playing with his huskies. Do you think he is worried that anything will happen?

No, not really. I mean he was standing there and he knew that they(polar bears) are nice. Plus animals are able to be friends with any creature. Like the lion an the lamb, and the cat and squirrel. We are able to get along in this world.

Thanks Ricky.

To watch this video please go to this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-Nyt4Bmi8&feature=related

twin red pandas

On March 28, 2008 twin Red Pandas were born in Sydney's Taronga Zoo. The twin cubs are named Jishnu meaning "bright" and "triumphant" and Tenzin named after Tenzing Norgay. They made their first appearance just recently when they were three months old. Many humans flocked around the red panda enclosure to see them being weighed and getting to know if they are healthy (they are). Though these little red pandas are not born in the wild and are living in a zoo they are so cute.


I think this is a win for the animal kingdom. Twin red pandas! Though it would be better if the red pandas were born in the wild. Red Pandas are endangered species and are hunted for their fur in China. A red panda pelt (pelt is what you call fur, like sea otter pelt) is considered lucky for newlyweds. It is also used for local ceremonies. In addition, because of habitat loss they are close to disappearing. Most likely the only place you will see a red panda is in a zoo or if you want to spend weeks in the wild trying to find a red panda. The birth of the twins is really great because red pandas have a low birth rate. Sometimes twins or just one Red Panda is born each year. So even if a Red Panda is born in a zoo it is two or one more added to the population of this critically endangered species. Also just like humans animals have nicknames too. The red panda"s nickname is Fire cat. Hopefully someday this zoo will start breeding red pandas to re-introduce into the wild. Hopefully.


Here is a link to see twin baby pandas. They are so cute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV8SU2DH9tg

Birth

In the dead of night hundreds of dark creatures, slowly climb up the beach. These creatures are female sea turtles laying their eggs. they can lay about 100 eggs in a clutch. Two months after they are buried in the sand, hundreds of baby green turtles climb out of their nest and scramble towards the ocean. Out of a hundred baby sea turtles many do not make it to the sea. Many are eaten by crabs, foxes and birds. If they do get in to the ocean they face getting eaten by sharks and carnivorous fish. a few baby turtles actually live to become a adult. Now it is harder for just a few baby sea turtles to make it to adulthood. Many humans hunt sea turtles for sea turtle eggs because apparently they taste better than chicken eggs. Artificial lights also cause a problem. Sea turtles babies follow the direction of the light from the horizon. With so many buildings and lamp posts they get confused which way the ocean is and get lost. Also female turtles tend to stay away from light areas when they are laying their eggs. it is a lot safer to hide from predators in the dark. That is why they come in the dark. Also beach armouring, beach nourishment, beach cleaning, beach erosion cause these babies problems. Many humans build walls and use sandbags to armour the beach to stop beach erosion. Some beaches add sand that was lost from erosion this is called beach nourishment. when they do add sand they compact the sand so much that sea turtles cannot dig nests nor can the baby sea turtles get out. also when humans clean beaches on nesting grounds they scare away sea turtles who are ready to dig their nests. An animal that wrecks sea turtle nests are raccoons. They have ruined about 90% of sea turtle nest. It seems that many other animals seem to know when the turtle nesting cycle starts and ends.

Even though sea turtles are endangered I think it is so amazing how hundreds of babies can live on their own without mothers. when I was a baby I spent about a year with my mother, Otter Mama. These baby sea turtles fend and find food all by themselves. also I think this is adorable! Many humans and animals think babies are so cute.

Disease

A rare tumor disease is causing many deaths in Tasmania. This disease only effects Tasmanian devils. It is called Devil Facial Tumor Disease( short for DFTD) which in adult Tasmanian devils causes a type of cancer that is fatal. Once they show signs of the disease three to six months later they die. This disease was first discovered in the mid-1900s and since than the Tasmanian devil population has been drastically effected. DFTD has only been found in some areas in Tasmania and not others. The disease starts out with a few lumps on areas where the skin is swollen, broken or bleeding. After a while these lumps grow bigger and uglier and cause the devils to starve. Many human scientists think that the disease spreads when the Tasmanian devils bite each other at times when they are fighting and/or mating. Many scientists are trying to find the cure to the tumor disease, meanwhile wildlife officers are monitoring the Tasmanian devils in the wild.

I think the DFTD is so sad. It so hard to protect a species from becoming extinct when they are dying from both human guns or invasive species. It is even harder to save a species from an invisible enemy, Disease.

Tasmanian devils live in an Australian state called Tasmania. These devils are known to eat dead animals. they are attracted to the smell of carrion and sometimes get killed by speeding cars because they like to eat road kill. They are marsupials meaning they have pouches where they keep their young. A devil can have about four little devils at the same time. When they were first discovered by early Europeans they were killed so much that they were thought to be extinct like the Tasmanian tiger.

Tasmanian Devil fact: Tasmanian devils store fat in their tails. so if you see a devil with a fat tail then he/she is probably eating fine.

Hope

In the Colombian River below the Bonneville dam many Californian sea lions are being captured because they are eating salmon. These sea lions are eating salmon that are endangered species. To protect the salmon the sea lions are being removed from the area. Even though the sea lions are being caught and transported somewhere else far away from their home, this relocation is better than having a bullet between their eyes. Before the Humane Society of the United States appealed to have the sea lions captured and taken to marine parks or back to the wild, many were simply killed. Recently though 6 sea lions were found dead on floating traps. Three California sea lions, two Stellar sea lions and one baby sea lion died. Many scientists say that the six sea lions were shot to death; however, later the scientist said that the sea lions died of heat stroke even though the weather was a high of 60 degrees and a low of 35 degrees. There was a lot of blood in the cages, so much blood that the officials had to put a tarp around the fence. Also they were not even in the cages for a full 24 hours making it very unlikely they die of natural causes. Many humans and animals were very shocked about this cruelty towards the sea lions. If this was bad enough, a few day after this killing the police found another dead sea lion apparently shot to death.

The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to remove the sea lions because they are eating an endangered species of salmon, although sea lions are not the only reason why the salmon are endangered. Many scientists say commercial fishing, pollution and sport fishing are also causing the fish to die.

I am very upset about the the killings of the sea lions. Like them sea otters such as myself are always threatened by fisheries because we eat crab, clams, mussels and octopus. Apparently this is the food they want too. What makes me more mad is that these sea lions were defenseless and could not hide because they were in cages. Plus these sea lions are endangered species too! What also bugs me is that these marine biologist say that the sea lions died from heat even though it was 60 degrees and these sea lions can live in hot places. It seems the human government does not want to blame commercial fisheries and pollution for the cause of the salmon downfall. I can only hope that these sea lions will make it without being murdered.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Gandhi

Beauty

Beauty is a Bald Eagle who is far from being beautiful. A couple years ago, Beauty's upper beak was shoot off by a gun. Because of this injury she cannot drink, eat or preen her feathers. She was found in an Alaskan landfill slowly starving to death. For two years now she has been hand fed salmon strips by caretakers at a bird recovery center in Anchorage, Alaska. Now she is having a surgery to get an artificial beak. Veterinarians, dentists and other experts are planning to glue the artificial beak on. The reason they are not screwing in the beak because the stump of the remaining beak is to close to the brain. If the glue does not hold then they will use screws.

Bald eagles represent freedom and liberty to many American humans. It is so cruel that someone tried to shoot Beauty. Especially a bald eagle that is an endangered species. Sometime I think humans can be so heartless towards animals.

Bald eagles have brown and white feathers and are not bald. They are the national bird for the United States. Due to a pesticide called DDT, bald eagles where nearly wiped out after WW11. DDT was a pesticide that humans put on their crops. Some of the pesticide would wash into rivers and be absorbed by aquatic plants which where than eaten by fish which were eaten by bald eagles. DDT stopped the ability for bald eagles to produce strong eggshells. Most eggs would crack and the ones that did not crack did not ever hatch. In 1972 the United States banned DDT as a pesticide. Other threats to bald eagles are lead-poisoning, hunters, and drinking water that had lead in it. Today bald eagles are still endangered species.

mystery

In Scotland's northeast coast many dead porpoises were being washed up to shore. At the same time in Virginia many young, dead dolphins were being found washed up on shore. Many scientists suggest that these animals died of "blast trauma" from the U.S navy and air guns. When they took a closer look at the bodies they found horrible injuries such as broken ribs, imploding lungs, damaged livers and massive internal bleeding. The only way this could have happened is if these animals were attacked. By identifying the teeth marks on the bodies, scientists discovered that the culprit of all these killing are bottle nose dolphins.

No one knows the actual reason why dolphins are killing their young and porpoises. Scientists think that dolphins and porpoises are competing for the same food source but there is no shortage of food. Others say that maybe the porpoises are in the dolphins territory but they were not chased away but pursued to death. Ben Wilson said, "The dolphins and porpoises have similar diets. But that does not explain the ferocity of the interaction. It could be some sort of recognition problem. Dolphins are afraid of big sharks and this could be leading them to attack porpoises." Can that really be the only problem?

In Virgina many young dolphins are found washed up on shore with the same injuries as the porpoises. Many marine biologists think that non related male dolphins are killing these baby dolphins. In the wild if a baby dies, the female dolphins after two weeks are able to mate again. Scientists think that these males are killing the babies so they can then mate with the female and pass down their genes.

Even though dolphins are killing porpoises and their own, please do not think of these animals as cold blooded murderers. Dolphins are intelligent animals who love to interact with human beings. They are friendly, shy and sometimes are big showoffs. We may never know why dolphins are killing their own young and porpoises.

disappearing

Global warming has effected many animals on earth. One species of animal that has been deeply effected by global warming is the polar bear. The ice that the polar bears live and hunt on has been disappearing at a rapid rate. As a result many polar bears have drowned or died of starvation. But global warming is not the only threat to polar bears. For many years the Inuits have killed polar bears but now trophy hunters have made it a sport. Each year a hunter will spend 25,000 dollars to go shoot a polar bear. About 700 to 900 polar bears are killed by these huntsmen each year. Just recently polar bears have become endangered species and now are protected by federal law. Still that does not stop hunters from going to Canada and continue this barbaric sport. Luckily the Marine Mammal Protection Act has stopped the hunters from bringing back their trophies to the United States. This is great because than no hunter will want to kill a polar bear and not have the head or fur for bragging rights.

Polar bears have thick white fur on their body and feet. This helps keep them warm and gives them traction on the ice. Underneath their fur they have a thick layer of blubber that provides buoyancy and insulation. A polar bear's diet consists mostly of ringed seal and bearded seal. They can travel many miles to search for food. Unfortunately due to Global warming the ice which the polar bears hunt on is melting away. A polar bear can swim up to 40 miles. Other threats that kill polar bears are pollution, tourism, and oil exploration.

It is still not enough to put polar bears on the endangered species list. It cannot not stop polar bears from drowning, starving, and being poisoned.

Harp seal pups in danger

During the cold months in Canada many Harp seals are born. Soon after they are born their mothers leave them to gather with the males and head north. The Harp seal pups are left to take care of themselves. Two weeks after they are born they grow white fluffy fur to hide them from predators and to keep them warm from the ice. Once they have grown fur they are able to be killed by hunters. These humans use clubs to beat them to death, they are also gunned down, and the worst is they are sometimes skinned alive. Nearly one million harp seal pups have been murdered in the past three years.

Hunting is not the only thing that endangers harp seals. Harp seals like to give birth to their pups on ice floes. But due to Global warming many ice floes have turned into, well, water and harp seals will not give birth on land. Absolutely not. Because of global warming many of these pups have not survived."It would be reckless for the government to allow the hunt to proceed this year, given the high pup mortality that has apparently occurred. We may not be able to save these seals from the effects of global warming, but the Canadian government can save the survivors from being hunted. I can only hope that they will do the right thing and cancel the hunt." said human Sheryl Fink, a senior researcher with IFAW.

The whole topic of killing poor, defenseless harp seal pups is devastating. Even though Harp seals are not endangered species they should still be protected. This should go for all animals in the world. Just because animals do not build buildings or drive cars does not mean they cannot think or feel too.

The Comeback Cat

A mysterious shadow walks by a motion detected camera. This figure starts clawing and raking a tree. this is caught all on tape. This figure is actually a jaguar marking it's territory in the United States. To many humans this may be useless information. But really this is an amazing discovery for the animal kingdom and the human world. There has only been two sightings of Jaguars in Arizona since 1996. Before that many scientists thought these species of jaguar had become extinct. This jaguar was called Macho B until a scientist compared his markings to another Jaguar. He discovered that Macho B was actually Macho A from thirteen years ago.


I am really happy to know that the Jaguars are coming back. Even though their population size is unknown they are considered endangered species and protected by federal law. though they are sometimes killed for their fur coats.



Many humans often make the mistake of calling jaguars leopards. I can understand why humans and sometimes animals make the mistake of recognizing these animals as each other because they look so similar. Leopards are larger than jaguars, have black spots and are more adapted to climbing up trees. Jaguars on the other hand have a rosette pattern down their backs and sides. they also can climb trees but it is very difficult. Plus these big cats live on the opposite sides of the world, so it is unlikely that you will see them together.

crazy raspberry ants

Crazy Raspberry ants are causing a havoc all through Houston, Texas. They where found in a cargo box at the Houston port. No one knows where they came from except they are closely related to ants in the Caribbean. What is good about these ants is that they seem to eat fire ants, those nasty bugs that sting humans. Unfortunately these Raspberry ants do bite humans and are everywhere. "They're itty-bitty things about the size of fleas, and they're just running everywhere. There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are; they're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy." says the human Patsy Morphew. These ants have also ruined computers, ruined sewage pumps and have had many fire alarms malfunction. Not only do these ants dig electronics but also eat hatchlings of an endangered species, the Attwater Prairie chicken.

Well why do the people of Houston just not kill these insects? Local exterminators have come to realize that these ants are resistant to all ant killers. So now the exterminators are trying to push for more lethal products. I have heard that these ants are also pretty smart. If you put poison around the room the ants that are still alive will make a bridge of the dead ants to get across to the other side.

This is the perfect example of invasive species. Many species who are not native to any habitat can cause great damage. The invasive species sometimes destroy whole habitats.

Endangered

On Feburary 21st, 2008, the Fish and Wildlife service announced its decision to delist the Northern Rocky Gray Wolf from the endangered species list. This decision should be people happy and celebrated but unfortunaly a dozen wildlife organizations sued the federal government. So far 35 wolves have been killed in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The Idaho governor said he plans to kill 80% of all the wolves in the state. Wyoming plans to kill 16 out of the 23 existing wolf packs. That is a lot of wolves. This may seem odd for a sea otter to talk about wolves and their problems but someone has to do it.



People think of wolves as predators and killers, who kill humans and livestock. The wolf's diet consists of deer, moose, caribou, rabbit and elk. So yes, the wolf is a carnivore. They do sometimes eat livestock but that is only when there is no other food. Humans have continued to take over the land where wolves have lived and also hunted the same food source. Due to the humans moving into the wolves territory, it is difficult for a wolf to know the boundry lines between a domestic animal and a wild animal. They just know they are hungry. I understand that when a wolf kills a cow it affects a farmer's income. But I have watched on the seaTV that a farm could have alarms that go off everytime a wolf comes within a certain distance of a farm which would scare them away. I would also like to point out that when it comes to hunting, humans tend to do it for pleasure and fun while wolves hunt to survive. An average wolf eats about 9 pounds of meat each day. They hunt for food not for points or a decoration on a wall.


Here is an interesting thought about wolves and people. There is no record of any healthy wolf attacking a person, but how many healthy humans have killed wolves? In my opinon killing for pleasure is wrong and could lead to wiping out a whole species. Believe me I know, sea otters in the the 1900's almost became extinct.

my story

My story, is not much different from your story. Except that my story has no happy ending. I am a southern California sea otter. I am 4 feet long, weigh forty five pounds and I am the second smallest marine mammal. I am also really cute and have luxurious fur. Which is the reason why my ancestors were hunted. Today sea otters are no longer hunted because we are considered endangered species. Unfortunaly the endangered species act does not protect us from all dangers. Some of these dangers are oil spills, diseases, habitat loss, food limition and shellfish fisheries. For example, a couple months ago I heard that a chemical in cat litter can kill sea otters. But I am not writing this blog to tell you all about amazing facts on sea otters, though sea otters are pretty amazing. I am writing about various events that are happening to the earth and animals and how cruel humans can be at times. Everyday, for fifteen days I will write about something that is happening to the animal kingdom and the enviroment.