09.10.07
Not for fundamentalist whale-haters
Before I get to the meat and potatoes, I just want to point out that the title of this post could have been misconstrued to hilarious effect if I had missed the hyphen.
Alright, so I don’t know how many of you folks follow the “Whales and Dolphins” section in your news outlet of choice. For amateur whale biologists and whale enthusiasts, keeping up-to-date on current happenings in the marine mammal community is a matter of some import! Earlier today, whilst perusing the latest headlines (ignoring the tragic yet somewhat irrelevant whale shooting of the coast of Washington), I noticed an interesting headline concerning the evolution of sonar in whales.
If you’re interested, the article can be found here [Science Daily].
Not yet convinced? Read on for a brief synopsis sprinkled with references to games and media from the 1990s.
If you weren’t already aware, only toothed whales use sonar. Baleen whales have no need for it since the ability is mainly used for hunting things like soft-shelled squid. Contrary to what you may have gathered from playing Sega’s classic title Ecco the Dolphin, biosonar is not actually used for attacking hostile marine fauna! In fact, it is used most frequently for finding food down in the dark ocean depths. The article addresses the question of how this ability arose, and it even manages to compare the biosonar abilities found in toothed whales to those found in everyone’s favourite “big bug scourge of the skies” (yes, I’m referring to bats). If you’re bored, curious, or still on the fence about whales, do yourself a favour and check it out!
You [ought to] learn something new every day, right? Might as well learn about whales! Just sayin’
squidink said,
September 10, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Jesus Christ, you use a lot of punctuation. You also seem to love pointing out your alliteration to other people to compulsively use italics for that purpose.
varies said,
September 10, 2007 at 1:55 pm
I believe in being creative with grammar and punctuation. Still, I am punctilious when it comes to punctuation, and sometimes it takes some more commas, hyphens, and parentheses than you laypeople are accustomed to using. Sorry! Furthermore, I only plan to italicize literary devices until people are able to notice them without help. Admit it, most people don’t notice these things! Oh… and just so you know, your grammar needs work.