ANIMALS: The blue whales were ‘hiding’

Gorillas with COVID-19; the kaleidoscopic bird; the king cobra in action; the Joaquin Phoenix spider [ANIMALS]( [VIEW ONLINE]( [ANIMALS]( [National Geographic]( [TODAY'S BIG TOPIC:]( [FINDING THE ‘HIDDEN’ BLUE WHALES]( Thursday, January 14, 2021 PHOTOGRAPH BY KYODO/AP By [Rachael Bale]( ANIMALS Executive Editor One of my favorite recent news stories was about the discovery of a new population of blue whales [“hiding”]( in the Indian Ocean. I love the idea that the biggest animals in the world—the biggest animals ever to exist, for that matter—“hid” from scientists for so long. They were only discovered by accident, when researchers listening underwater off Madagascar for a different species of whale picked up a new ballad, one unlike any ever heard before. But less happy news has filled my inbox. Dozens of readers wrote in about a [minke whale that was trapped]( in a fishing net off the coast of Taiji, Japan, on Christmas Eve. Drone footage by activist Ren Yabuki showed the whale getting increasingly agitated, ramming itself against the nets and diving deep to try to escape. Despite lobbying of the Taiji Fisheries Cooperative, which owns the nets [according]( to Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, the whale was left trapped for more than two weeks. Yabuki said he saw fishermen—who claimed that the size of the whale and strong currents could make rescue too difficult—make only one “half-hearted attempt” to free the whale, the [Guardian]( reports. On Monday, after 19 days, fishermen tied a rope around its tail and dragged it behind a boat for 20 minutes until it drowned, Yabuki reported. Then on Wednesday, he [reported that a humpback whale]( also became entangled in Taiji fishing nets and died. The whales had been trapped just outside the Taiji harbor, near [the infamous cove]( center of [Japan’s annual dolphin slaughter](. Minke whales aren’t a part of the dolphin hunt, but Japan does allow commercial minke whaling in its waters [since it withdrew]( from the International Whaling Commission in 2018. (Pictured above, a different dead minke whale being unloaded in northern Japan in August.) Still, Japanese are [eating less whale meat]( and many distributors and processors have closed. As for the dolphins, so far this hunting season, which runs from September to March, 285 dolphins and other small cetaceans [have been killed]( for meat, and 119 have been captured to supply international aquariums and marine parks. To learn more about about whaling and the commercial exploitation of wildlife, check out our [Wildlife Watch]( project. Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, [sign up here]( or forward to a friend. TODAY IN A MINUTE PHOTOGRAPH BY EDWIN GIESBERS, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY COVID-19 and gorillas: At least three western lowland gorillas in the San Diego Zoo have tested positive for the coronavirus. The gorillas, who live in a troop of eight, are expected to recover, zoo executive director Lisa Peterson [tells Nat Geo’s Natasha Daly](. Gorillas are the seventh non-human species to have contracted the virus naturally, following confirmed infections in [tigers]( [lions]( [mink]( snow leopards, [dogs]( and [domestic cats](. (Pictured above, a western lowland gorilla.) Not just in Game of Thrones: The ferocious “pet” in the HBO series was a dire wolf, which roamed large stretches of the Americas before dying out 13,000 years ago. Analysis of several full genomes for these creatures found they were long separated, distant cousins to the gray wolf, with fewer genetic connections than assumed. [Archaeologists tell us]( that the findings do not settle questions around the dire wolf’s evolution and eventual extinction. Survival? He was the last known member of the most endangered turtle species in the world. Now a female has been discovered. Does this mean the giant Swinhoe’s softshell turtle could go on? “This is the best news of the year, and quite possibly the last decade, for global turtle conservation,” Andrew Walde, of the Turtle Survival Alliance, [told the Guardian](. The “new” Swinhoe’s turtle has been found in a lake in northern Vietnam, and there may be another Swinhoe’s turtle there, researchers say. The only documented male of the species is in Suzhou Zoo in China. What did the manatee do? Authorities in Florida are investigating the scrawling of the word “TRUMP” on a threatened manatee. There were conflicting reports as to whether the word was made by scraping off skin or just the manatee’s thick cover of algae, according to [the Washington Post](. Harassment of a manatee is a crime, punishable by a $50,000 fine and up to a year in prison. Nat Geo’s Dina Fine Maron [explains on Twitter]( how it could have happened. Rainbow sensation: This bird has a blue head, green back, and red underparts. The kaleidoscopic-colored male painted bunting, rarely seen as far north as Maryland, has created a sensation in a park near the Potomac River, [the Washington Post reports](. Its breathtaking color also makes the species a magnet for illegal trapping, writes Maron. “The French word for these birds, nonpareil, means ‘without equal,’” [she writes](. They move like lassos: These aren’t your typical sand-sidewinding, leap-between-trees, or underwater-undulating snakes. No, scientists have found invasive brown tree snakes in Guam that adapt the slither to shimmy up poles with lasso-like loops. “We just kind of looked at each other in shock. I mean, this wasn’t something a snake was supposed to be able to do,” [ecologist Tom Seibert tells us](. YOUR INSTAGRAM PHOTO OF THE DAY PHOTOGRAPH BY [@MATTIASKLUMOFFICIAL]( A lot of snake: The king cobra is the world’s longest venomous snake, growing up to 19 feet long and feeding almost exclusively on other snakes. Photographer Mattias Klum took this photograph on assignment in Malaysian Borneo, just inches away from this adult king, which was devouring a water snake. More than 275,000 people have liked this image since it was posted to our [main Instagram page]( over the weekend, [with one noting]( “It’s a great picture, but it gives me the chills!” More than 215 million people, curious about our world, follow Nat Geo accounts on Instagram, such as [Travel]( [Adventure]( [In The Field]( and [Your Shot](. Paying attention to snakes: [Why we should do more to counter snakebites]( THE BIG TAKEAWAY PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG GIMESY The threatened platypus: They lay eggs. Their fur is biofluorescent. They have 10 sex chromosomes to our two. The web-footed, duck-billed platypus lately has become an object of worry for scientists—mainly because their numbers seem to be plummeting. “Climate change, human development, drought, and bushfires are ravaging the rivers in eastern Australia that platypuses rely on to feed and mate,” [writes Haley Cohen Gilliland](. On Sunday, the Australian state of Victoria declared it a threatened species. (Pictured above, researcher and ecologist Josh Griffiths cradles a female platypus he just captured. Researchers measure things like body weight and size, to determine sex, and to take genetic samples.) [READ ON]( IN A FEW WORDS [QUOTE] (They) are very shy in their habits, so discovering a new species was a great and welcome surprise. Alireza Zamani Iranian arachnologist, on the discovery of [a new spider named for Joaquin Phoenix]( DID A FRIEND FORWARD THIS TO YOU? Come back tomorrow for Whitney Johnson on the latest in photography news. If you’re not a subscriber, [sign up here]( to also get Debra Adams Simmons on history, George Stone on travel, and Victoria Jaggard on science. THE LAST GLIMPSE PHOTOGRAPH BY KLAUS ECHLE, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY Helping the sleepy dormice: The 28 species of small, little-known, tree-dwelling rodents known as dormice do snooze most of the day—and up to 11 months of the year. But their preferred sleeping place, in the hollows of old-growth trees, is disappearing as lumber companies have stripped away many of the trees in Poland, Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania. To save the dormice, conservationists are building special nest boxes, and early results from Lithuania and Britain show the dormice are using them—[and their population is growing](. (Pictured above, an edible dormouse poking its head from a hollow of a fallen tree in Germany’s Black Forest.) [READ ON]( This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, with photo selections by Jen Tse. Kimberly Pecoraro and Gretchen Ortega helped produce this newsletter. Have an idea, a link, a particular favorite among our best-of animal photos? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. And thanks for reading. [NGM]( [NGM]( SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey. [TAKE THE SURVEY]( [SHOP]( [DONATE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [TRAVEL]( [READ OUR LATEST STORIES]( [SHOP]( [DONATE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [TRAVEL]( [FB]( [Twitter]( [IG]( Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply. This email was sent to: {EMAIL}. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored. 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