4 ms·

Whales do considerably more, like recyling iron to the surface where it's needed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale's_faeces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whal

Whales do considerably more, like recyling iron to the surface where it's needed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale's_faeces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale's_faeces I'd expect the narrow population bottleneck they've been pushed through (down to 150 individuals) would leave them with much less genetic diversity. That could be a serious and very long term problem (or not). Irrelevant fact: whales can get flu (coronaviruses). Just FYI

usrusr 6y ago
Interesting, almost looks as if whale conservation, despite having been started for purely sentimental reasons afaik, has turned out to be saving our asses a bit in terms of climate change and overfishing.
- travmatt 6y ago
  Ecologists frequently focus public efforts on widely recognizable umbrella species. Humpback whales are widely distributed and touch many complex parts of the ecosystem. Making them the face of conservation efforts makes sense, because protecting them entails protecting the ecosystem they live in and rely on.
wjn0 6y ago
Influenza viruses are not coronaviruses.
- throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
  I'm not sure either way. I thought flu is a kind of generic, informal term and coronaviruses can give those symptoms so it's flu, in laymans' terms. I'm probably wrong.
  - erikpukinskis 6y ago
    Pre-2020 examples of coronaviruses in humans include: - the common cold - SARS - MERS The common cold is colloquially differentiated from the common flu. SARS and MERS generally are not referred to as a flu. It's not a perfect proxy for colloquial language, but if you read the Wikipedia article for SARS for example, it says things like "SARS produces flu-like symptoms" and "an electronic warning system that is part of the World Health Organization's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), picked up reports of a "flu outbreak" in China" .... where you will note "flu outbreak" is in quotes, meaning... it was not a flu outbreak. Swine flu, and bird flu, in contrast, colloquially recognized "flus" are in fact variants of Influenza. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr...
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
pvaldes 6y ago
> whales can get flu (coronaviruses). Hum?... Yep. Belugas have its own coronavirus SW1, you are right. I didn't knew that. And it seems that bottlenose dolphins have a second one... wow Is particularly puzzling because it was a single captive animal so maybe beluga was not the main host here. If the memory does not fail me, Dolphinidae can sometimes pick dog viruses in captivity. They have its own poxviruses and morbiliviruses also.

usrusr 6y ago

Interesting, almost looks as if whale conservation, despite having been started for purely sentimental reasons afaik, has turned out to be saving our asses a bit in terms of climate change and overfishing.

travmatt 6y ago
Ecologists frequently focus public efforts on widely recognizable umbrella species. Humpback whales are widely distributed and touch many complex parts of the ecosystem. Making them the face of conservation efforts makes sense, because protecting them entails protecting the ecosystem they live in and rely on.

wjn0 6y ago

Influenza viruses are not coronaviruses.

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
I'm not sure either way. I thought flu is a kind of generic, informal term and coronaviruses can give those symptoms so it's flu, in laymans' terms. I'm probably wrong.
- erikpukinskis 6y ago
  Pre-2020 examples of coronaviruses in humans include: - the common cold - SARS - MERS The common cold is colloquially differentiated from the common flu. SARS and MERS generally are not referred to as a flu. It's not a perfect proxy for colloquial language, but if you read the Wikipedia article for SARS for example, it says things like "SARS produces flu-like symptoms" and "an electronic warning system that is part of the World Health Organization's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), picked up reports of a "flu outbreak" in China" .... where you will note "flu outbreak" is in quotes, meaning... it was not a flu outbreak. Swine flu, and bird flu, in contrast, colloquially recognized "flus" are in fact variants of Influenza. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

pvaldes 6y ago

> whales can get flu (coronaviruses). Hum?... Yep. Belugas have its own coronavirus SW1, you are right. I didn't knew that. And it seems that bottlenose dolphins have a second one... wow Is particularly puzzling because it was a single captive animal so maybe beluga was not the main host here. If the memory does not fail me, Dolphinidae can sometimes pick dog viruses in captivity. They have its own poxviruses and morbiliviruses also.