The Japanese have been claiming all along that they have been doing research on the whales, not just hunting for dinner for a football team for a month.

A study has come out that says the whales are losing their blubber because ocean resources have been dwindling.

Japan conducted “lethal research” on 6,779 whales, about two-thirds were killed and some were pregnant.

The problem for the big Nemos is a lack of krill, a critical link in the food chain. The scarcity is blamed on climate change and the recovery of species like the humpback whale.

Minke whales shed nearly 10% of the blubber over 18 years and lose about 38lbs a year. I wonder if I were to remove krill from my diet, would I lose weight, too?

The study was led by Japan’s government-backed Institute of Cetacean Research and published in Polar Biology. Whale lovers say, “There is no need to kill whales to study them. ‘Research’ whaling is just commercial whaling under another name.”

Poor whales … if the Japanese don’t get them, climate change will.

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Right or wrong, the Brits fear that future developments of wind turbines (and they plan to have 7,000 by 2010) may hurt the dwindling bat population, and they have good reasons. A wind turbine reduces the air pressure around the spinning blades and can burst the tiny blood vessels that surround the bat lungs when they expand.

Dr Erin Baerwald, of the University of Calgary, Canada, conducted the research on 188 bats that were killed in just one night, and revealed that they all died because of internal bleeding. However, the threat is not that high with birds as with bats, because they have tougher lungs and support pressure changes much better.

With 17 bat species on the rare and endangered lists, no wonder the Brits fear they’ll be affected by wind turbines.

What would you choose? More energy for us and forget the bats, or less energy for us and keep the bats. It’s very hard to answer, I know.

Image courtesy of mosdave

Loggerhead turtles, endangered-type, were found just after birth on a beach in Cyprus. Cyprus took the lead in conservation of the slow fellows in 1978. The results are bearing fruit as a number of nests for both loggerheads and green turtles can now be found.

The turtles are said to have been around for 10,000 years and return every 25-30 years after hatching to lay their own legs and keep the reproduction process going.

But, then there are people like the woman in the photo who will do their part to disrupt the process, no? Why can’t we leave the animals alone? They don’t check on us to make sure we are reproducing at an appropriate rate, do they? Come to think of it, maybe they should.

This story/pic so reminds me of a heartbreaking one I heard a while back. Rangers came upon a deer that was emaciated. When the little fellow finally died, they cut it open to find out what had happened. The deer had eaten a plastic bag and it blocked its food track.

Somebody thinks it’s cool that this 9-month old female octopus is feeding itself from a jar. Shrimps, crabs and clams are put in the jar and the eight arms fight over which gets to dig in and pull out a munchy.

The living stop sign is in a zoo in Munich - Hellabrunn Zoo.  And, tell me again, is this cute? funny? ridiculous? When are people going to leave the animals alone?

A Giant Panda gave birth to a cub in Japan at the Oji Zoo. It was the first time in 20 years that a panda cub was successfully bred by artificial insemination. Two experts came from China’s Sichuan province to help with the procedure. Apparently the sexy panda videos didn’t work.

The last panda bred by artificial insemination in Japan was in 1988 at Ueno Zoo. The sex of the newcomer is not known. The little critter is just 25 cm long and weighs just 100 grams. (10″ 3.5 oz)

Parents are Dan Dan and Xing Xing. Panda’s in captivity often have low sex drive. I reckon I wouldn’t be too interested in doing “it” either if everyone was watching, would you?

China wants to lease two pandas to Japan’s Ueno Zoo since Ling Ling died but the doubters question China’s good will intention. Can’t have good intentions, now can we?

What do you think of helping animals to breed?

We like animals here at Greenpacks. But, I reckon if we had to draw a line, this might be where we do it. A Japanese knucklehead was found to have kept 51 snakes in his Tokyo apartment…cobras and mambas, oh, my! When he was feeding one of them, he got bitten so he called the police.

“Let me think this through. Call the police? Or die?”

The man kept the snakes, one as long as six feet in his apartment without informing the Tokyo metropolitan government.

“Hey do you mind if I keep these deadly snakes in my teeny tiny apartment and your phone number on speed dial in case I get bitten?”

Nobody knows where the snakes are now, but they might be in your neighbor’s apartment. Do you know why your neighbor keeps buying mice?

A rare albino southern right whale calf was spotted at West Australia’s Finder’s Bay. Makes sense to find the calf in Finder’s Bay, eh? The calf is about 2 months old and has the name “Wilgi Ma Nung” which very unoriginally means “white whale” in the local Wardani Aboriginal language. I mean, why not call him/her “Spot?”

Whale watchers say “Spot” will remain in the area for another month or so to gain its strength, swim laps, get ready for the Olympic swim, then make the journey to the Antarctic for the summer feeding months.

Finder’s Bay is noted as a birthing and nursery ground for southern right whales. Right whales usually vote conservative, too. Speaking of names, um, where do they get this southern right whale classification?

Perhaps the plight of these sea turtles is what is causing these other little fellows to be confused about their lot in life. Some 60 newly hatched sea turtles seemed to have gotten lost during their rite of passage … their initial march to the sea. Instead of finding the big wet, they marched into an Italian restaurant … ordered Pizza, alfredo fettucini instead?

It’s not funny. The baby sea turtles ended up under the tables of diners at the beachside restaurant. Conservationists couldn’t figure out what went wrong and the little critters did not respond to direct questions, like “Where you guys think you’re going?”

One conservation thinks “They saw the artificial lights and took the wrong route.” What? No mapquest for turtles? After curious restaurant goers and tourists with cameras got their kicks, the turtles were released into the sea.

And, do we really wonder why the Sea Turtle is endangered now?

Can you imagine a fight between a dog and a lion? It’s an unfair battle! But make that a beautiful puppy and a lion cub and you have a playground. It doesn’t matter what’s going to happen in years when the lion is going to be 10 times heavier than the dog, it’s the fun they have today. It doesn’t matter who win/won, but do check out those claws … Check out more images after the jump. (more…)

For all those that thought cats can’t swim we have news for you. They can if they are being taught, and that’s exactly what Dr Bhagavan Antle did for the last 25 years.

A young lion cub is being taught how to swim

Tiger loves to get his paws wet for a good swim

Baby orangutan learns how to swim

A swimming tapir, enjoys life underwater

Born in Arizona on a vast cattle ranch and with a passion for wild and exotic animals, Dr Bhagavan Antle is now the director of T.I.G.E.R.S and is considered one of the foremost animal trainers in the country with more than 350 bit cats trained for movies, TV commercials, and live performances. Would we have fun if tigers would play with us? Probably not!

I salute his lions swimming lessons but I think animals should be left alone in their natural habitat and not used to entertain humans.