Whale Poo Fights Climate Change!

June 16, 2010 - Posted by Lee Welles-author

In case you needed one more reason to save the whales:
BBC reports that excrement of Southern Ocean Sperm Whales absorbs 400,000 of carbon a year! Because the whales are eating squid from deep in the ocean, and pooping closer to the surface, they are effectively bringing iron up from the bottom. The iron stimulates the growth of phytoplankton, which absorbs the carbon. What a great system!

Enjoy Jonathan Bird’s look at these amazing animals. His website is chock full of videos from our oceans.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 7:56 am and is filed under GAIA ROCKS!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Comments

  1. booksforwallsproject says:

    It’s pretty brilliant how nature balances everything out –she has a plan!

    At our home in Northern Michigan the tent worm caterpillars have taken over –but they create some amazing fertilizer– there is caterpillar poo everywhere –imagine coffee grounds scattered on a deck… We realized that it’s just like worm castings and so now we just sweep those “coffee grounds” into the garden and thank the caterpillars for all their work!! It just goes to show… we have to trust NATURE!! :) Amy, Nadia and Sunny

    ... on July June 16th, 2010
  2. Lee Welles-author says:

    Sweet! Or, at least the micro-fauna in your garden think so! I like the idea of fertilizer that “falls from the sky.” Good thing they weren’t tent elephants! hehehe.

    ... on July June 16th, 2010
  3. juliagulia193 says:

    I am stressing out sooooo badly!!!!!!! I have five finals coming up. Tommorow I have my accelerated math final(7th AND 8th grade) . Next year I’ll have 2 regions because I will be in 9th grade mathe and science while I’m in 8th….. :(

    ... on July June 17th, 2010
  4. Lee Welles-author says:

    Make sure you get lots of sleep! That will help you remember everything you need to know. If you are lying in bed, stressing out…use your imagination to see the following: You are smiling as you set your pencil/pen down. Done! And you know you did very well. Imagine walking in your house and telling your parents that the test was easier than you thought it would be.
    Eat breakfast. Take DEEP breaths before the test.
    You’ll be fine.

    ... on July June 18th, 2010
  5. gaiagirls101 says:

    The last week of school for me held no tests or papers, except for permission forms. In North Idaho the last week of school is only four days, we get Friday off. Monday;we cleaned out all the desks and closets, took all our stuff home, and watched movies on our projector all day. Tuesday; we had track and field day with the fifth and sixth graders from our school and twin lakes (another school in our district) and we beat them at all the competitions hands down. Wednesday; we had our D.A.R.E. kickball tournament against all the other sixth graders in our district. Thursday; we had our last day of school assembly and got yearbooks, then we watched movies for the rest of the day.

    ... on July June 18th, 2010
  6. Lee Welles-author says:

    I LOVED Field Day! Except my sister always won more ribbons than I did and I was very jealous. gaiagirls101, what are the names of the twin lakes?

    ... on July June 22nd, 2010
  7. gaiagirls101 says:

    There isn’t really two lakes, it’s one lake that has a chanel/swamp in the middle of it so it looks like two lakes. here is a map of it http://www.sandpointcentral.com/portals/46/pictures/lakes/twin-lakes.jpg

    ... on July June 22nd, 2010

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