Brain size vs. structure as a measure of intelligence That homo sapiens should be more intelligent than tursiops truncatus (the common bottlenose dolphin) is not immediately obvious from this image. We’ve known for a long time that dolphins, with their very large brains, are indeed highly intelligent. But it’s not only size but also brain...
Holding pens for captured dolphins, Taiji, Japan. At any given moment, hundreds who’ve had their freedom stolen await their sale to marine parks around the world. Photo Credit: LIA/Dolphin Project To a dolphin, captivity is a living hell. That they are somehow ‘luckier’ than those killed outright is debatable. Every year, hundreds of dolphins are...
If we continue to let the ice caps melt, rising sea levels may not be what threatens us most.Photo: National Geographic nationalgeographic.com We hear a lot about the effects of climate change on global sea levels. How much and how fast, what the impact on our coastal regions is likely to be, and so forth....
For forty thousand generations, we’ve done what we believed we needed to do to ensure our own survival. It’s been said that a society has the ethics it can afford. That may be true in some sense, but we think that we need to be very careful about defining those things we deem as necessary,...
Is it? The Earth Island Institute isn’t prepared to guarantee that no dolphins died for products bearing this label. Creating the illusion that we’re doing it right Poor seafood labeling laws can do a great deal of damage in that they create the illusion among the public that all is well. A destructive and entirely...
All of our fellow creatures deserve to be treated with respect, both those who look like us, and those who don’tPhoto Credit: Popular Science How do you decide which issue you should fight for? First off, you’ll probably know what it is when it feels like it’s chosen you, and not the other way around....
We can debate the injustices of factory farming all we like (and we should), but it doesn’t rise to the level of horror of this.Photo Credit: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Whaling’s supporters believe they’ve got an argument that’s a sure winner, with simple math making their case irrefutable. It invariably goes something like this. How...
The Helsinki Group – Speaking up for Cetaceans It’s time to give traction to a critically important initiative A few years ago, back in 2010, we finally got around to recognizing that perhaps we are not the only species deserving of legally recognized rights. A conference at the Collegium for Advanced Studies in the University...
These shy, solitary creatures will suffer tremendously if people are allowed to farm them. Photo Credit: National Geographic Our world has an nearly endless supply of stuff we know we’d be better off without. We brand many of them as ‘necessary evils’, because they’ve long served some other purpose. Such as feeding people. If in...
The tragedy of a life stolen, but we still have a chance to do the right thing I was saddened to hear the news of Kiska’s passing this week, but also a little relieved. Her life has been one marked with misery for many years – the last 12 of them completely alone. Her kind...
