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Humpback whales are forming super-groups

bbc.com

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Re: Humpback whales are forming super-groups

#51

Post by redsocksfan45 »

tom_ wrote: post #11
astrocat wrote: post #3

holy units batman > Bursting from their enormous lungs at over 300mph (483km/h), a humpback whale's blow can rise up to 7m (23ft) into the air. Pick a lane BBC. But this is great news. Also the fact that whales "transport huge amounts of nutrients across the globe" (linking to [1]) is fascinating. The role of whales in sucking up critters in one place and pooping them out elsewhere being a fundamental dynamic that dr…

I think the BBC policy is to provide every measurement in both types of unit.

Is it also their policy to botch the significant digits? 300 mph is obviously a crude estimate. Converting to 483 km/h implies an unreasonable degree of precision.

Re: Humpback whales are forming super-groups

#53

Post by TeMPOraL »

sailingparrot wrote: post #50
ilt wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evolution has been found to be happening 2-4 times faster than the rate earlier thought: https://news-archive.exeter.ac.uk/2022/may/articles/fuelofev...

We would need 1000x faster, so that doesn’t really change anything.

It could easily become this fast or even faster, if we would just stop worrying so much about "playing god" and focus instead on getting good at this job. We don't have much time for this either, as AI is on the trajectory to take over that mantle in the next decade or three, whether we like it or not.

But seriously, we may not have much choice. Natural evolution stopped being able to adapt to environmental changes after it created us; genetic engineering is essentially the only way to make biology adaptable enough again.

Re: Humpback whales are forming super-groups

#55

Post by frereubu »

astrocat wrote: post #3

holy units batman > Bursting from their enormous lungs at over 300mph (483km/h), a humpback whale's blow can rise up to 7m (23ft) into the air. Pick a lane BBC. But this is great news. Also the fact that whales "transport huge amounts of nutrients across the globe" (linking to [1]) is fascinating. The role of whales in sucking up critters in one place and pooping them out elsewhere being a fundamental dynamic that dr…

I remember reading about whales returning to an area they hadn't been in for decades and people were worried about them eating all the local fish, but in fact their faeces enriched the local ecosystem from the ground up, leading to more fish. It's a bit like the counter-arguments to the lump of labour fallacy.

Re: Humpback whales are forming super-groups

#56

Post by drysine »

kulahan wrote: post #46
timschmidt wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evolution of small things like algae and the krill which feed on it and feed the whale is quite fast. Single celled organisms reproduce on the scale of 20 minutes and hold immense amounts of genetic diversity in their populations to facilitate the success of a better adapted line almost immediately. Additionally, they are adept at horizontal gene transfer from other well-adapted organisms.

This would be great news if the whale literally only required krill to survive, but complex megafauna have complex needs, so the ability of krill and other small creatures to evolve is largely irrelevant in a discussion regarding the ability of megafauna to survive. This is especially true if you read TFA and see that the whales already adapt to eat different things as necessary.

>but complex megafauna have complex needs

Like what? Emotional support dolphin?

Re: Humpback whales are forming super-groups

#57

Post by CalRobert »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #37
swframe2 wrote: post #2

I hope we create whalegemma (similar to dolphingemma) so we can explain to them how to co-exist better with humans (e.g. avoid this area during their whale hunting season, travel to this area if you get sick or tangled in rope).

It's just a pity we couldn't figure out how to better coexist with whales.

We know how, but we choose not to.

The same goes for most of our ecological problems, really.

Re: Humpback whales are forming super-groups

#58

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

lostlogin wrote: post #32
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their hours are pegged to the hogshead, and are about 3 seconds shorter than American hours.

The US use of units is worse than the UK. Said from a proudly metric country, New Zealand, where everyone knows their weight in kilograms and height in feet and inches.

at least it's not stones

Re: Humpback whales are forming super-groups

#59

Post by kakacik »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #53
sailingparrot wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We would need 1000x faster, so that doesn’t really change anything.

It could easily become this fast or even faster, if we would just stop worrying so much about "playing god" and focus instead on getting good at this job. We don't have much time for this either, as AI is on the trajectory to take over that mantle in the next decade or three, whether we like it or not. But seriously, we may not have much choice. Natural evolution stopped being able to adapt to environmental changes a…

Unpopular opinion for obvious reasons, but probably the only realistic one apart from just witnessing one extinction after another. Pollution and climate change aint going anywhere until we elevate whole world to the level of say western Europe.

But since we humans are pretty arrogant with our wisdom and lack long term patience, I can see many ways where well-intended meddling can end up in catastrophe overall.

Re: Humpback whales are forming super-groups

#60

Post by vasco »

mulnz wrote: post #22
cortesoft wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the population growth probably isn't linear, so maybe?

Warming will kill off most of the systems these animals depend on within 30 years.

Why put a number on it? Every number so far has been wrong. Can we agree on the negative impacts of humans on an environment conducive to humanity without putting obviously wrong timings on predictions? I bet your intention is to provoke urgency but to most people it just causes an eye roll because it's not true, whereas the underlying ideas are true.
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