ANIMALS: Where the whales are

Odd-looking zebras; a gorilla recovering from COVID-19; saving male chicks; the return of the Florida grasshopper sparrow [ANIMALS]( [VIEW ONLINE]( [ANIMALS]( [National Geographic]( [TODAY'S BIG TOPIC:]( [CALIFORNIA PORT NAMED FIRST U.S. WHALE HERITAGE SITE]( Thursday, January 28, 2021 PHOTOGRAPH BY CARYN BECKER, ALAMY By [Rachael Bale]( ANIMALS Executive Editor It was a freezing, windy, drizzly day sometime in the 1990s when I first went whale-watching. Or at least, as freezing as Southern California can get in the winter. I was on a boat with my schoolmates, many of whom were starting to turn green from being jostled atop the ocean’s rough waves. We were off the coast of Dana Point, looking for migrating gray whales. We didn’t see any that day, but I’ve gone back several times in the years since. Dana Point, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, has long been known as one of the country’s top places to spot whales. Gray whales, humpbacks, blue whales, and others all pass by, using the harbor as a landmark to help them navigate on their migrations. (Pictured above, a blue whale diving off Dana Point.) Yesterday, it was announced that Dana Point has become the first [Whale Heritage Site]( in the U.S. The certification, given by the World Cetacean Alliance and World Animal Protection, recognizes locations with responsible and sustainable whale-watching. Dana Point joins Hervey Bay, Australia; the Bluff, in Durban, South Africa; and Tenerife-La Gomera Marine Area in the Canary Islands as one of four Whale Heritage Sites. When it comes to whale watching, responsible tourism means letting the whales set the rules. A motorized boat is a noisy intrusion into their home, so it should be up to the whales to decide how close they come and how long they stick around. “There’s no cheesy music being piped in, there’s no dancing, there’s no reward of thawed frozen fish” for coming near the boat, Ben Williamson of World Animal Protection [told USA Today](. “It’s just dolphins and whales being themselves in their natural habitats where they belong.” It can be tough even for the most educated tourists to know what types of wildlife attractions are sustainable and responsible. Here are [a few tips]( on how to identify them.(Pictured below, Ann Nash points out a minke whale to her son, Raiden, off Dana Point in 2014.) Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, [sign up here]( or forward to a friend. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALLEN J. SCHABEN, LOS ANGELES TIMES/GETTY IMAGES TODAY IN A MINUTE PHOTOGRAPH BY REN LARISON Odd-looking zebras: Spots? Different colors? Such aberrations are rare, but biologist [Brenda Larison]( found that an unusually high number—an estimated 5 percent—of [plains zebra]( living near [Uganda]( Lake Mburo were abnormally striped. Why? Fences, roads, and human development have squeezed zebra populations, making it harder for them to migrate between herds—and infuse populations with new genes key to their survival. [Larison told Nat Geo]( that the aberrant spots and colors may be a result of inbreeding. (Pictured above, a plains zebra with a spot interrupting its stripes in Rwanda’s Akagera National Park in 2018.) Recovering: For Winston, an elderly silverback gorilla at the San Diego Zoo, the onset of COVID-19 led to heart disease and pneumonia. Nat Geo’s Natasha Daly tells us that he underwent a monoclonal antibody therapy made specifically for animals [and was recovering](. He was among several endangered western lowland gorillas at the zoo [who tested positive earlier this month]( world’s first non-human primates with confirmed cases of the virus. The poultry industry’s dirty secret: Male chicks don’t produce eggs or as much meat as female chicks. At many places, they are quickly gassed. Or shredded. However, Germany is expected to become the first country to ban mass culling of male chicks by 2022, [the Guardian reports](. It’s “a significant step forward for animal welfare,” Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner said Wednesday. One mature grizzly: A 34-year-old grizzly bear captured in southwestern Wyoming has been confirmed as the oldest on record in the Yellowstone region, [the Associated Press reports](. Grizzly bear 168 was captured last summer after it preyed on calves in the Upper Green River Basin area. The bear had only a few teeth left and clocked in at just over a third of the 450 pounds it weighed when captured and tagged as a 5-year-old in August 1991. Vanishing bees: To grow 85 percent of the world’s food crops and fruit—think garlic, grapefruits, coffee, and kale—we need the pollination of bees. A new study shows that roughly 25 percent fewer species of wild bees were spotted between 2006 and 2015. “What we can say is that wild bees are not exactly thriving,” biologist and study leader [Eduardo Zattara tells Nat Geo](. Over-reliance on just a few species of bees could leave the world’s food production extremely vulnerable, experts say. YOUR INSTAGRAM PHOTO OF THE DAY PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHIEU PALEY, [@PALEYPHOTO]( Breakfast companions: Photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Matthieu Paley was sitting down to breakfast when this rock pigeon landed elegantly next to his table in Cappadocia, Turkey. Research suggests that domestication of pigeons occurred as long as 10,000 years ago; their droppings have been used as natural fertilizer in agriculture for centuries. Pigeons have made contributions of considerable importance to humanity, especially in times of war, when they delivered vital messages. Speaking of pigeons: [The tale of Ollie and Dollie, a pair that befriended a family on lockdown]( THE BIG TAKEAWAY PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION Last legs? No. Just two years ago, the tiny Florida grasshopper sparrow appeared doomed to extinction. Now, however, “the most endangered bird in the continental U.S.” is on its way back, thanks to a captive breeding program, [writes Craig Pittman for Nat Geo](. Joel Sartore, who had documented the songbird’s slide toward extinction for his [National Geographic Photo Ark,]( has been thrilled to see these above-and-beyond conservation efforts for a species not as sexy as the gorilla or the tiger. “Doing the same for the Florida grasshopper sparrow means you’ve really accomplished something. In terms of degree of difficulty, it’s Mount Everest,” [Sartore says in the article](. (Pictured above, Sartore’s photo of a Florida grasshopper sparrow taken out of a mist net at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park.) Learn about the National Geographic Society’s work to conserve and protect species through programs like the National Geographic Photo Ark, at [natgeo.org/PhotoArk](. IN A FEW WORDS [QUOTE] The chance for an individual shark to get caught is now 18 times higher than it was in 1970. Nicholas Dulvy Co-chair, Shark Specialist Group, the International Union for Conservation of Nature From [Oceanic shark and ray populations have collapsed by 70 percent over 50 years]( 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 JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK Small, but tough: It’s the ultimate underdog. We’re talking about the three-striped cory, a faintly dopey-looking catfish about an inch long. Why? Researchers in a California biomechanics lab found the tiny catfish (pictured above) [surprisingly manages to hold off the red-bellied piranha]( the razor-toothed terror of the Amazon. How? The catfish have specialized armor-like scales, made of two layers, one strong, one soft, which combine to absorb the piranha’s bites without being pierced. [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 or a link? 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}. 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