Sunday, December 21, 2014

News: A New Species of the World’s Biggest Whale Has Been Discovered — and They’re Small

Well, relatively speaking.

December 19, 2014 By Taylor Hill

[original link]

From News
A pygmy blue whale. (Photo: Jason Isley/Getty Images)

Does the world’s largest animal have a pint-size variety?

Not exactly, but the population of blue whales living off Chile’s southern coast could be a slightly smaller version of their Antarctic neighbors, and that has scientists thinking they may have found a new subspecies of the cetacean.

But don’t be fooled: These so-called “pygmy blue whales” are only small if you’re comparing them with the 100-foot behemoths with which they share a name.

Still, the new findings—published in the journal Molecular Ecology on Thursday—should help researchers get closer to determining just how many types of blue whales exist in the world’s oceans, and that could make a big difference in understanding the best way to conserve the endangered species.

Researchers from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Universidad Austral de Chile worked together on the study, comparing the genetic identify of 52 whales found off southern Chile with blue whales from Antarctica, northern Chile, and the eastern tropical Pacific.

While they didn’t find differences between the Chile groups and the eastern tropical groups, there were significant differences in gene sequences in all three populations compared with the Antarctic blue whales.

“The presence of two types of blue whales in Chile hopefully helps inform protection measures, either via spatial protections or threat mitigations for each that can be carried out locally and nationally, but also in a regional and international context,” Howard Rosenbaum, a Wildlife Conservation Society director and senior author of the study, said in an email.

The smaller blue whales found off southern Chile are similar in size to another subspecies of blue whales found off Australia, called B. m. brevicauda—which measures around 80 feet at maturity. That’s plenty big, but it still doesn’t touch the Antarctic blue whale, B. m. intermedia, which can grow up to 100 feet in length.

Researchers noted that little is known about the Southern Hemisphere blue whale population, and most historical data points come from whaling records. It wasn’t until a blue whale feeding and nursing ground was discovered off Chile’s southern coast in 2004 that scientists began to question whether there was more than one population of blue whales in the southeastern Pacific.

By the early 1900s, whalers had slaughtered more than 300,000 Antarctic blue whales, depleting the population to less than 1 percent of its historic number.

Since the International Whaling Commission’s 1966 moratorium on killing blue whales, the marine mammal has slowly recovered, and there are now 5,000 to 10,000 of the massive animals in the Southern Hemisphere and 3,000 to 4,500 in the Northern Hemisphere.

“Our study gives us crucial insights into the population structure of blue whales in the waters of Chile and will serve as an important stepping stone for further research,” said Rosenbaum. “The long-term goal of such work would be a network of marine protected areas designed to save the world's largest animal.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

針灸: 足少陽膽經

黃帝內經 靈樞 經脈篇第十
膽足少陽之脈,起於目銳眥,上抵頭角,下耳後,循頸,行手少陽之前,至肩上,卻交出手少陽之後,入缺盆。
其支者,從耳後入耳中,出走耳前,至目銳眥後。
其支者,別銳眥,下大迎,合於手少陽,抵於 (出頁) 下,加頰車,下頸,合缺盆,以下胸中,貫膈,絡肝,屬膽,循脇裡,出氣街,繞毛際,橫入髀厭中。
其直者,從缺盆下腋,循胸,過季脇,下合髀厭中,以下循髀陽,出膝外廉,下外輔骨之前,直下抵絕骨之端,下出外踝之前,循足跗上,入小指次指之間。
其支者,別跗上,入大指之間,循大指歧骨內,出其端,還貫爪甲,出三毛。

是動則病口苦,善太息,心脇痛,不能轉側,甚則面微有塵,體無膏澤,足外反熱,是為陽厥。

是主骨所生病者,頭痛,頷痛,目銳眥痛,缺盆中腫痛,腋下腫,馬刀俠癭,汗出振寒,瘧,胸、脇、肋、髀、膝外至脛絕骨外髁前及諸節皆痛,小指次指不用。

為此諸病,盛則寫之,虛則補之,熱則疾之,寒則留之,陷下則灸之,不盛不虛,以經取之。盛者,人迎大一倍於寸口,虛者,人迎反小於寸口也。

Saturday, December 13, 2014

針灸: 足厥陰肝經

黃帝內經 靈樞 經脈篇第十
肝足厥陰之脈,起於大指叢毛之際,上循足跗上廉,去內踝一寸,上踝八寸,交出太陰之後,上膕內廉,循股陰,入毛中,過陰器,抵小腹,挾胃,屬肝,絡膽,上貫膈,布脇肋,循喉嚨之後,上入頏顙,連目系,上出額,與督脈會於巔;其支者,從目系下頰裡,環脣內;其支者,復從肝,別貫膈,上注肺。

是動則病腰痛不可以俛仰,丈夫㿉疝,婦人少腹腫,甚則嗌乾,面塵,脫色。

是主肝所生病者,胸滿,嘔逆,飧泄,狐疝,遺溺,閉癃。

為此諸病,盛則寫之,虛則補之,熱則疾之,寒則留之,陷下則灸之,不盛不虛,以經取之。盛者,寸口大一倍於人迎,虛者,寸口反小於人迎也。

足厥陰肝經

Monday, December 08, 2014

News: Great Horned Owl Doing Breast Stroke

Watch this owl swim in Lake Michigan after being attacked by falcons
POSTED 11:42 AM, DECEMBER 2, 2014, BY ELYSE RUSSO [ Original Link ]

A Chicago area photographer and birder captured a most unusual sighting: An owl swimming in Lake Michigan.

Steve Spitzer was at Loyola Park Beach in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood when he saw something in the lake.

He met another birder who said it was an owl. The Great Horned Owl was forced down into Lake Michigan by two Peregrine Falcons.

Spitzer captured video and photos of the owl, but he didn’t take any of the falcon attack. He and others at the beach were busy trying to scare the falcons away.

“I’m a birder at heart,” he said.

Spitzer said bird rescue was called to the scene, but the owl flew away.