(via octopussoir-)
Just got home from Nat’s prayer service. Can’t stop crying. Why did this have to happen.
The Turquoise Door
An ocean obsessed science student with a love for fashion, food, and freedom
Reppin’ Star Wars on Mother’s Day.
…don’t ever forget that!
And don’t say “I’ll never be good”. You can become better! and one day you’ll wake up and you’ll find out how good you actually became.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson
He really just makes me smile.
Me too.
Remember, you can. I got your back, folks.
Whale vs. Whale: Humpback whales intervene in orca attack
Whoa. This might go down as the most remarkable whale story I’ve ever heard. Monterey Bay, CA is a world-famous whale-watching spot, and on May 3, 2012, watchers were treated to an event that might change the way we think of whale cognition.
The hunt: A group of transient orcas was witnessed trying to separate a gray whale calf from its mom, a common hunting behavior. All of a sudden, two migrating humpback whales appeared. As the gray whale mother attempted to save her calf, the humpbacks splashed and trumpeted to scare away the orcas, often within a body length of the other whales.
Unfortunately, the baby whale was killed, but a total of five humpbacks harassed the orcas for hours (as seen in the photo from the scene, above), perhaps trying to keep them away from feeding on the carcass.
It’s a remarkable sequence of events. Dr. Lori Marino of Emory University, an expert in whale cognition, had this to say:
… humpback whales, and many other cetaceans, have specialized cells in their brains called Von Economo neurons (“spindle cells”) and these are shared with humans, great apes, and elephants. The exact function of these elongated neurons is still unknown but they are found in exactly the same locations in all mammal brains for the species that have them.
What is intriguing is that these parts of the mammal brain are thought to be responsible for social organization, empathy, speech, intuition about the feelings of others, and rapid “gut” reactions.
It’s difficult, if not impossible to equate this kind of behavior as “feelings”, in the human sense, but there’s certainly empathy here, and between two species to boot!
Whatever the answer, it’s touching proof of the intelligence of whales, and perhaps we can take this as a reminder that defending other species from destruction (or extinction) is a natural, core value of intelligent creatures like ourselves.
Previous whale amazement: A humpback whale is freed from a net by fishermen, and its gratitude is tear-worthy.Also, humpback whales trade songs across oceans, does this mean they have “culture”?
Roaddtripp Wooooo
Finally done classes and out for the summer!! Off to the boyfriend’s parents cabin tomorrow morning, couldn’t be more excited =)
….oh and I also got a new dress which I am just as in love with.
The back is absolutely adorable and I can’t wait to wear it in the summer!
Mmm yeahhh new clothes yeahh
New Skirt :)
I’m in loveeeee with it!!
And that furry blurry little butt of fur you may notice near my feet is molly =P
(via mermaidbound)
Quiet, calm and accepting. Don’t get me wrong, the underwater world isn’t perfect, you’ve got poachers and sharks, garbage and oil spills but amongst the chaos you find yourself engulfed in total silence. Free to swim as far by the grace if water, you float about weightless. Far into the darkest depths of the sea. If you wish to get away you can do so. If you wish to ONLY hear your own thoughts, you bet it’s possible. Oh how I wish to be a fish….if a mermaid is too much to ask. Human form is way to painful. I also hate it, considering I’m pretty misanthropic. I’m tired of the pains and burdens that come with earth life. If I can’t spend the rest of my life underwater, can I opt for being abducted??
Paris 1947
Written on April 13, 1989, this letter was sent from second-grader Kelli Middlestead of the Franklin School in Burlingame, California, to Walter Stieglitz the Regional Director of the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, lamenting the Exxon Valdez oil spill of March 24, 1989.
Kids get it…why can’t everyone else?
(via jtotheizzoe)
