Wildtalk archives

Wildtalk Spain # 80: Andalusian whales

Wildtalk Spain, an email newsletter from www.wild-spain.com
12 July, 2005 - Issue 80


Did you know you can see Humpback and Blue whales in the Spanish
Mediterranean? Difficult but not, apparently, impossible. See News Briefs,
below.

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------- News Briefs

 . Whales of southern Spain -
15 species of cetaceans - whales, dolphins and porpoises - are to be found
in Andalusian waters according to a recent study by the university of
Sevilla. Two of them, the Striped dolphin and the Harbour porpoise are
officially considered in danger of extinction. The latter has disappeared
from much of the Mediterranean and now found only in the Black Sea and in
the Bay of Cádiz. Common and Bottlenose dolphins live near the coast and
also further out at sea. Sperm whales, Cuvier's Beaked whales, Risso's
dolphins and Long-finned Pilot whales are found past the continental shelf,
where they hunt for squid at depths of around 3,000m. Orcas arrive from the
Atlantic in search of tuna, their main prey in the area. Of the large
filtering species, Fin whales are the most commonly seen, and indeed seem to
be making a comeback in the region. Other great whales are present although
rarely seen and they include Minke whales and even Humpback and Blue whales.
Date: July 12, 2005 Source: Junta de Andalucía

. Andalucía's official whale-watching tours -
The Consejería de Medio Ambiente of Andalucía is organising whale and
dolphin-watching trips in the Parque del Estrecho, Cádiz, during the month
of July. For a fee of between 7 and 20 euros visitors will have the chance
to search for several cetaceans in this portion of the Straights of
Gibraltar, some resident (Common, Bottlenose and Striped dolphins) and
others semi-resident (sperm whale, orca, fin whale, Risso's dolphin). Date:
July 01, 2005 Source: Andalucía 24 Horas

. Annular eclipse of the sun (3rd Oct.) -
An annular eclipse of the Sun will be visible in Spain on 3rd October 2005.
This rare event may be observed within a narrow corridor stretching from
Galicia to Valencia. In Madrid the annular phase will start at 8.56 UT and
last 4m 11s, with 90% of the Sun's surface being obscured by the Moon.
Follow link for details of visibility corridor, times and map. Date: July
01, 2005 Source: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

. Black vulture nests burnt in Salamanca -
At least 7 Black vulture nests were destroyed by a forest fire in Sierra de
las Quilamas (Salamanca) on June 18th. The fire was caused by lightning
although local conservationists say the destruction was avoidable. According
to SEO there were insufficient fire-fighting resources in the area despite
high temperature predictions days before. Date: June 29, 2005 Source:
SEO/Birdlife

For links to sources of these News Briefs see
http://www.wild-spain.com/wsbriefs.php


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