La Vaquita! (Emmy)

 

On Friday, we attended a lecture held by Paloma about marine mammals. In the lecture, Paloma told us about the great biodiversity in the Sea of Cortez and the different kinds of mammals found in the sea. Mammals like Sperm Whales, Pygmy Sperm Whales, Blue Whales, Humpback Whales, Fin Whales, Gray Whales, Sea Lions, False/Killer Whales, and perhaps one of the most interesting and trajic is the Vaquita. 

The Vaquita is a type of "toothed" whale (as seen in the attached picture the jaw bone of the whale) that is only found in the Sea of Cortez. It is relatively small at about 1.5 meters in length. One of the most trajic facts about the Vaquita is that there is only about 10-12 individuals in the Sea of Cortez due to over fishing and dangerous gilnet entanglement. 

There has been many unsuccessful attempts to preserve the Vaquita and possibly bring the population back up. Paloma told us about the newborn Vaquita that had washed ashore barely alive. The baby was brought to CEDO (picture in frame attached) and after many failed attempts the baby lost its life hours after. Today, the Vaquita are given a complete protection zone in the northern Sea of Cortez in continued hopes of the Vaquita continuing to make offspring and be left alone from fishing nets.

Comments

  1. VinceMay 28, 2024 at 8:05 PM

    Those "little cows" are cute! I hope that they can get their numbers up with protection.

    ReplyDelete

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