whale006
Research Blog | January 9, 2017
whale poop is part of the ocean’s circulatory system drawing iron up from the ocean bottoms as whales consume krill who consume phytoplankton who consume iron, and bringing it up to the surface oceans in the form of their faeces, which are released by the whales only in less water pressure levels.
whale006notes
Research Blog | January 9, 2017
whales – poop – circulation – iron- CO2 sinks NARRATION Baleen whales – such as humpbacks and blue whales – are a group of whales that sieve mountains of krill from the water in a single gulp. With that much going in one end, there must be a fair bit coming out the other. Dr…
whale005
Research Blog | January 8, 2017
When oceans become crust. Three-fifths of Earth’s crust lies underwater, spread out along the seafloor. More than four cubic miles of ocean crust forms each year, constantly regenerating like new skin across the globe. This ocean crust arises along mid-ocean ridges — underwater mountain ranges that ripple along the ocean floor like jagged scars.– Oceans apart:…
whale004notes
Research Blog | January 7, 2017
…the whale was able to disguise itself as an island. According to some traditions, the whale’s back was covered with rocks, dirt, and even trees and bushes in the creation of this grand facade. Such a tempting oasis within the sea readily attracted sailors and wayward monks, who settled upon this island and made camp….
whale004
Research Blog | January 7, 2017
If you light a fire on the back of a whale, thinking it is an island, and drive stakes into its back, thinking you are on sandy land, you will almost certainly be tossed and turned into the sea.
whale003
Research Blog | January 6, 2017
When the fish is hungry it opens its mouth very wide, and breathes forth an exceedingly sweet odor. Then all the little fish stream thither, and, allured by the sweet smell, crowd into its throat. Then the whale closes its jaws and swallows them into its stomach, which is as wide as a valley.– Bartholomaeus Anglicus…
whale003notes
Research Blog | January 6, 2017
The monstrous whale known as aspidochelone was characterized by two distinctive behaviors. First, the whale possessed the ability to entrap its prey, usually fish, through the emission of a sweet, seductive odor released from its mouth. Unsuspecting fish were attracted by the scent, only to be devoured when the whale’s cavernous mouth snapped shut.– “Bad…
whale002
Research Blog | January 5, 2017
When whales were monsters… In medieval society, animals served as “scapegoats, mirror images and representations of human reality.– "Bad to the bone”? The Unnatural History of Monstrous Medieval Whales
whale002notes
Research Blog | January 4, 2017
teratology now means a study of deformity, in the olden days it referred to monsters writhing sea monsters of the deep… whales were monstrous hell lay inside their mouths (jonah’s experience) they were often depicted with horns and scales. Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 6:6): Whales (ballenae) conceive through coition with…
whale001notes
Research Blog | January 4, 2017
NOTES: “hexavalent chromium is a major baddie for whales, corroding the genetic material in their cells and increasing their risk for cancer and reproductive problems. I didn’t realize that we all cross hexavalent chromium’s path pretty much every day. It’s in rust inhibitors, paints, dyes and inks. The yellow lines on our roads have hexavalent…
why whales?
Research Blog | January 2, 2017
Some backstory on this project. in 2015, I was participating in a class exercise about false mythologies. As in: take an issue, and come up with a speculative fiction to explore it. I was interested in whales, and something I’d read a long time ago, about beluga whales in the St Lawrence river, who lived…