Super Weaners!

Hi everyone, 

We are one day closer to the Bahamas! Yay! We started today with a DyKnow wrapping up how qualities of the ocean such as temperature, pH, and dissolved gasses affect marine life (and how it conforms to given water conditions). We learned how organisms “breathe” in the salty water and how marine organisms can be classified depending on how far away from the shore they dwell. We finally deciphered the difference between warm-blooded and cold-blooded marine animals, which transitioned us nicely into a DyKnow session surrounding marine mammals.

Elephant seals aren’t as cute as harbor seals, but they sure have funnier names. Mr. Daly explained the inner workings of Northern Elephant Seal rookeries to the class, as well as the concept of “harems”, the evolution of the “weaner”, and the rare but hilarious… wait for it… “super weaner”. A super weaner is a seal pup who has weaned from a mother twice and thus gets twice as big as all the other pups! We transitioned into talking about sea otters (who knew they were the size of a German Shepard!), polar bears (some of the only animals that actually hunt humans), and finally, whales. We learned the difference between baleen and sperm whales; baleen whales are named after their form of teeth, and sperm whales are named for the massive compartment of valuable spermaceti in their heads.

Whoever named elephant seals was a comedic genius. 

This information helped us transition into a whale dissection video (which was every bit as gross as it was entertaining). We were all amazed at how massive a whale body is! Our friend Joy walked us through the (enormous) anatomy of a sperm whale and exposed the unique spermaceti these whales carry and explained its importance in the whale’s echolocation abilities. As interesting as this dissection was to watch, we concluded that we’re all pretty happy with sticking to squid. What a great topic to cover right before lunch!

A less graphic snapshot of a sperm whale’s cranial anatomy.

Today after lunch, we learned all about marine invertebrates. In a short lecture, Mrs. Becker taught us about everything from Porifera (sponges) to Mollusca (squids, snails, and octopi), and even Cnidaria (coral and jellies). We broke down the defining characteristics of each phylum to help us better understand how these different animals are related. It helped that Mrs. Becker brought out her own collection of shells, and the remains of coral and other marine invertebrates so that we could actually hold some of the things she was teaching us about. She also made sure to include some warnings about what invertebrates we should avoid while we are in the Bahamas. A few that she made special notice of are fire coral and fire worms whose stings make it feel like you are on fire. Even with these warnings, there is nowhere near enough time to teach us about all the dangers that live in the ocean so, the general rule of thumb is: while we are in the Bahamas, we should not touch anything unless we are told it is okay.

Be careful not to touch a fire worm or risk feeling like you are on fire!

Following our afternoon break, we received a brief lesson on whaling before jumping right into a simulation of the annual IWC meeting. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a group supported by many countries to help regulate whaling and protect the majestic giants of the oceans. The IWC works to limit the number of whales killed every year so that they can repopulate to numbers that existed before humans began hunting them. Due to the long gestation period and low birth rates among most species of whales, the IWC has currently put a moratorium in place banning whaling worldwide. Since the IWC is merely a committee of scientists and people who are passionate about saving whales, they have limited power enforcing their moratorium. One of the challenges that we faced while role playing as different countries represented in the IWC is how we plan to deal with indigenous groups and others who disregard the moratorium. Ultimately, in the end, we agreed that we would strike down the moratorium and lift the ban on whaling. While this was not what the class actually agreed with, the materials that we were given suggested that whaling is an important part of the economy of many countries and there is a shared feeling that whaling is simply going to happen. This activity sparked a discussing among the students about why it is so important to protect marine life.

The logo of the IWC 

We are excited to continue to learn about marine life as we prepare for our trip to the Bahamas, and mostly excited for our first test tomorrow!

Helen and Evan