Upwelling

[borrowed from http://www.myfourthirds.com/files/0734/1Two_Humpbacks.jpg]

Humpback whales travel thousands of miles from their birthing grounds off the coast of Hawaii and Mexico, all the way to the colder waters of Alaska, because of the nutrient rich waters that help to create lots of yummy whale food in the summer.

The picture above shows two humpbacks that are bubble net feeding.  This involves several whales working together, taking turns being the ones coming up from below to eat the bountiful haul of herring.  The concept is that a few whales swim around in a circle, gradually moving up in the water column while blowing bubbles.  The herring are reluctant to cross the line of bubbles, which get larger as they head toward the surface, so the herring tend to congregate in a dense bait ball.  This makes it easier for the whales following the bait ball from below to gobble up a big condensed glob of food.  If you traveled about two thousand nautical miles to consume a bunch of high fat/protein rich foods that are going to sustain you for the trip back to warmer waters in the fall/winter, you would want to eat as much as possible as quickly as possible.

There are lots of herring up in the waters off Alaska because they have cold nutrient rich waters which promote lots of primary production.  Lots of algae result in lots of bait fish which means a great food source for the charismatic megafauna which make a long sea journey to gain the nourishment they need to produce the next generation of great whales.

Cool, in more than one sense!

A Hippo Story for Mona

borrowed from http://www.travelphoto.net/a-photo-a-day/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/p1070947_500.JPG

My sister in law is a riot.  She picked up my mom's cell phone as I was texting her last night, and started putting in birthday demands for all my immediate relatives.

My brother's demand was very tame, but hers was a pony.  I called him a few minutes later on his cell, and she answered.  I explained that I thought she was too old for a pony, and she responded, "you said I am too FAT for a pony, that's not very nice!"  This went on in the same vein for a few minutes, then we actually talked about the reason for my call.

About a half hour later on Facebook the demand had changed to a hippo!  A few more comments later and I was inspired to tell some stories from my long ago trip to Kenya.  I will not mention monkeys this time, as they have had more than their fair share of posts in this blog lately.

On said trip to Africa, as has probably been mentioned before, but bears repeating, I spent several days on a photo safari through the Masai Mara game preserve.  The facility was based alongside a muddy river that wound through the countryside.  During the long hot days, the hippos would remain in the water, and they are actually much more suited to that environment, given their bulk and buoyancy.

If you click HERE you will see what I mean about how much more graceful they look underwater as compared to having to heave their vegetarian bulk around on land.  If you watched the video, you can see they are mostly walking on the bottom and not actually swimming, but it is nice to be mostly weightless underwater!  That's why I like scuba diving, it is the closest I will ever get to experiencing the weightlessness of space.

So they float/stand in the river all day to keep cool, then at night they lumber onto land and start looking for things to munch on to keep their Rubenesque figures.  The first night we stayed at the camp, I heard a bunch of commotion and mooing just as I was trying to get to sleep.  I guess they aren't very orderly about their exit strategy from the water, and they vocalize their displeasure about the pushing or shoving or hip checks they are getting from their friends, who may be more hungry or rude than they are.

When they are relaxing/snoozing during the day, you mostly see nostrils, ears, and the hump of their back above the water line.  I think the little ones do not have enough blubber to keep themselves afloat, so you might see them laying on their moms, with only 30-40% submerged.

One of the most interesting habits of these huge creatures is that they have a certain part of the river which is designated for "doing their business", if you will.  It is apparently bad form to relieve yourself while you are rafted up next to everyone, so you separate from the group and meander over to the poopy part of the river.  Once there, you position your but maybe 6-8 inches out of the water with said butt facing the beach, and you wiggle your tiny tail back and forth vigorously while getting rid of yesterday's meals.  This distributes the stuff rather than having it all land in the same place.  CRAZY, but it makes sense to them.

One afternoon I was sitting on the balcony of the main lodge, which overlooked the river.  There was a raft of maybe 30-40 animals getting relief from the oppressive heat.  I was probably clicking away, trying to capture that perfect hippo picture (these were the pre-digital days, so I had to be somewhat judicious to make sure I did not run out of film), when the whole group reared up and made a bunch of indignant moos at almost the same time.  It was kind of like a hippo stadium wave.

I have always wondered what caused this.  Did an alligator come down stream and nip at one of the chubby artiodactyl bathing beauties? Did a hippo baby try to get a drink of milk from someone who did not have the correct equipment?  Did someone try to get fresh at the wrong time of the day?  I guess I will never know, but it is fun to speculate.

The Texas Hold 'Em Pokerization of America

If you have read any of my blogs, you probably gathered that I am a pretty big sports fan.  One of my pet peeves is shows broadcast on ESPN that I believe have NOTHING to do with sports.  I realize that beauty, as well as sports, are probably in the eye of the beholder, but you would be hard pressed to convince me that POKER is a sport.  I also don't believe that NASCAR is a sport, but at least the drivers have great reflexes, and are probably sweating a great deal as they drive around the oval.

When I cannot sleep late at night, I think about topics that might be interesting to write about.  One night I wrote down a few words on the back of an envelope several months ago.  I have misplaced that piece of paper between now and then, but it went something like:

"rise of interest in poker in the US = willingness to gamble our futures away"

I was born in the mid 1960s, and as a kid growing up in an upper middle class family, my parents invited the neighbors over to play bridge.  At least, that's what they told us.  There were card tables, and bridge mix, and note pads for recording scores, so I assume it was bridge they were laughing about down in the living room......

Poker was something the gamblers and desperados played on the Western movies and  television shows of the mid to late seventies.  I am not much of a card player, though I enjoy a good game of Spades, Rook or Bohnanza (this has nothing to do with the Western radio or TV show, but is a great game involving bean farming!!!!  no, really, it is!!!).

The spouse could explain more about derivatives and the mortgage bust that we are still suffering through in most parts of the US, but I wonder if the increased popularity of poker and it would appear, gambling in general, has something to do with the reduced savings rate in the US.

Rather than relying on government bonds or more conservative investments to prepare for retirement, lots of people lost most of the value of their 401Ks with this recent economic bust because they had them in more risky investments.  Greater risk can mean greater gain, but it can also mean greater loss.

Just sayin'.........