Mark Caney's Blog, page 42

Orcas and dolphins have amazing healing capacity

September 20th, 2012 Nakai, an 11 year old male orca, was injured in a fracas with two other male orcas during a private after hours show for corporate guests at SeaWorld San Diego and was left with this gaping wound (the missing piece was later found at the bottom of the pool). (See Tim Zimmermann’s Blog )

While this injury looks painful and would certainly hospitalize a human, cetaceans have an astounding ability to heal that science is just beginning to understand.

Michael Zasloff, M.D., Ph.D., a Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) scientist, interviewed dolphin handlers from around the world and discovered dolphins’ “remarkable” and “mysterious” ability to heal, a skill that he says was previously poorly documented.

“How does the dolphin not bleed to death after a shark bite? How is it that dolphins appear not to suffer significant pain? What prevents infection of a significant injury? And how can a deep, gaping wound heal in such a way that the animal’s body contour is restored?” Zasloff asked as part of his research. “Comparable injuries in humans would be fatal.”

As part of his research he proposed that the same diving mechanism (diving reflex) that diverts blood from the periphery of the body during a dolphin’s deep plunge down in water depths also could be triggered after an injury. He also looked into the dolphin’s apparent indifference to pain threshold, the prevention of infection and dolphin wounds’ ability to heal in a way that restores its body contour. As a conclusion, he said that the dolphin’s healing ability is less like human healing and more like regeneration.(The Jerusalem Post).

The photos below show the healing process as a dolphin recovers from a severe shark bite. In an interview for National Public Radio last year, Zasloff explained that “Dolphin blubber makes compounds like organohalogens that act as natural antibiotics and keep the tissue from getting infected. The next mystery is the recovery of contour [of the body]. When the animal restores its wound, it regenerates the complex structure of blubber. It doesn’t create a scar; it produces a sort of patch that ultimately is woven back into the surrounding tissue…And what is equally amazing is that handlers who know these animals will tell you that they observe absolutely no indications in the animal’s behavior that it’s in pain”.

Full story: Seattle PI

Ocean Geographic Magazine Features Dolphin Way

The novel, Dolphin Way, is featured on the cover of the latest issue of the prestigious Ocean Geographic. The magazine has also devoted a full thirteen pages to provide its readers with some sample extracts from Dolphin Way, beautifully illustrated with the stunning photographs of famous underwater photographer Michael Aw.

Ocean Geographic is the voice of the Ocean Geographic Society: http://www.ogsociety.org/. On their website you can join free or buy other classes of membership if you would like to receive hard copies of the magazine.

 

See the book video trailer for Dolphin Way:

Try or buy the book

More captive dolphins die

Earth Island Institute (EII) Regional Director, Lawrence Makili with one of the injured dolphins

Three of the ten dolphins held in captivity by Tanhuka villagers in Kolombangara, Western Province, Solomon Islands have died over the past three weeks.

The dolphins were being kept in a pen secured by fishing nets in a bay just outside the village.

The Solomon Star visited the village yesterday and was present when one of the dolphins came ashore and then died, after being inspected by a team of fisheries and police officers sent by Premier George Solingi Lilo, accompanied by Earth Island Institute (EII) Regional Director, Lawrence Makili.

According to some of the villagers, they claimed this was the third dolphin to have died within a span of three weeks.

“Three dolphins have so far died over the past three weeks, one was buried here whilst the other was believed to have been consumed by some villagers.

“Only seven dolphins remain in the pen,” a group of villagers who wanted their names withheld for safety reasons revealed.

These reports were somehow disputed by other villagers who maintained that only two dolphins have died over the past week.

One of which was believed to have drowned trying to get into the pen and the other its calf (baby dolphin).

Mr Makili who was part of a team of fisheries, police officers and the media who briefly inspected one of the dolphins yesterday, before it unfortunately died in his hands said that such circumstances was expected prior to visiting the village.

“We had anticipated such to happen.

“The dolphin that died in my hands today (yesterday) was very ill and had suffered from bruises and scars which I believe to have been infected,” Mr Makili said.

Makili added that if one of the pod of dolphins has suffered from such conditions, then other dolphins must also be going through the same.

He also highlighted whilst holding negotiations with the villagers yesterday evening that his only worry now was that the number of dolphins in the pen had decreased since his last visit last week.

Meanwhile Tanhuka villagers yesterday demanded a total of $20,000 in compensation to cater for expenses incurred for the three weeks they have been keeping the mammals before they would be released.

Source: Solomon Star by Jeremy Inifiri

Dolphin stampede past yacht in video

Dolphin Way giveaway ends tomorrow!

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Dolphin Way
by Mark Caney

Giveaway ends October 01, 2012.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Try Dolphin Way for free

You can get the opening chapters of Dolphin Way for free from here. You can also get the whole novel as a paperback or in a format for most eReaders by clicking on the book image above.

Here are what the reviewers have had to say about this unique book:

Feeling Fictional Book Reviews - I absolutely loved Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians and read it in three days because I wanted to immerse myself in the fabulous world which Mark Caney created.

Let’s Book It Book Reviews - Mark Caney is one of those authors that blows me away! He has created an entire society that includes a culture, music, stories and legends, poetry, etiquette and all else that makes up a fully developed society. That this society is underwater in the oceans we all know, and populated by dolphins, makes it all the more amazing to me.

Diver Magazine - Not only does Caney have a beautiful writing style, a vivid imagination and a natural sense of plot construction, but what is clearly an intimate knowledge of dolphins and the underwater world.

Booking In Heels Book Reviews - Before I picked it up, I was a little worried that it would come across as a bit silly as anthropomorphic novels occasionally do. It doesn’t. Not at all. It’s very, very well written.

New Books Magazine – Once I started to read, I could not put it down and I have read it in four days flat, which is quick for me. It’s a very Cane and Able type of story but the imagery in it, and the imagination that Mark has used is wonderful. Also, it makes you think about what we are doing to our environment.

Scottish Diver Magazine - This analogous tale has been beautifully crafted to include details of legends, laws, taboos, myths, ancient writings, music, traditional gatherings, mating rituals, birth and death customs, and well-crafted ‘characters’ galore.

Rather Barefoot Than Bookless Book Reviews – Caney makes this world really believable and interesting. I never thought I could get so sucked into a dolphin’s world but I did and I find that I am very happy to have read this book because it was so good.

Madhouse Family Reviews – If Sir David Attenborough ever turned his hand to writing a novel this is exactly the sort of book he would come up with. Mark Caney shows us a fascinating and sometimes surprising glimpse into the real world of dolphins and it’s a lot more complex and at times chilling that you would imagine.

Sport Diver Magazine - Masterfully weaves a believable tale of dolphin life – you will never look at a dolphin the same way again!

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society – A superbly plotted, accomplished and entertaining novel with a powerful environmental message describing the intolerable pressure from man’s destruction of the dolphins’ world.

Pilot whales waiting to die today in Taiji

Only 10 days ago, 70 pilot whales were slaughtered in a small cove in Taiji, Japan, despite repeated calls for media to bring needed attention to these atrocities. In an unlikely twist of fate, another pod of pilot whales is once again at the mercy of the Isana Fisheries Union.

From her vantage point on the ground in Taiji, Cove Guardian Ashley McDaniel hastily posted on her facebook page, “Just witnessed by far the worst thing I have even seen.” The young woman reported that two pilot whales had broken away from the fishermen’s nets and were throwing themselves on the rocks in the cove. Said McDaniel, “I was standing within feet of one of them..I have no words.”

With typhoon-strength waves churning towards Taiji, these pilot whales were driven into the killing cove on the morning of September 28. Now trapped between the fishermen’s nets and the rocks against which they will have no protection, the whales may find themselves torn to shreds before the fishermen raise their knives.

The annual Taiji dolphin drive hunt is fueled by the aquarium industry. During the 2011-2012 season, 15% of the dolphins and whales driven into the Cove were trained to perform tricks and then sold into captivity. The performing animals were sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Those not selected for captivity were slaughtered and sold for human consumption even though the meat contains toxic levels of mercury.

Full story: CNN

Dolphin Way supports Save the Whales Reloaded

Save the Whales: Reloaded supporters pledge that:

Together we can achieve so much more than we can alone


Everybody deserves a say in how we manage our oceans, including important decisions that affect whales and dolphins


Whales and dolphins desperately need us to speak with one voice if we are to protect them and their ocean habitats before it is too late

Finally, we hope that you will be able to attend the World Whale Conference in Brighton, England. Your contributions and ideas at the Conference will be vital as we ask the public, charities, whale watching companies, governments, and businesses to share their thoughts and plan the campaign strategy going forward. However, if you are unable to attend the Conference, we will keep you updated as the campaign develops and ensure that it is a campaign that continues to involve everybody.

Mark Caney will also have a Dolphin Way stand at WhaleFest, which takes place just after the conference on 28/29 October.

Video of a dolphin birth

This video shows the birth of a dolphin calf on 17 September in Hawaii.

The mother, Keo, who is 12, was in labor for an hour before delivering the female calf, whose proud grandmother Pele and aunt Noelani were present for the big event, according to Dolphin Quest Hawaii at Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Captive dolphin calf seems to recognise her mother at birth

A 12-year-old dolphin at a Hawaii resort has given birth to a female calf that seems to instantly recognise her mother in a video of the birth posted online.

Footage of last week’s birth on the Big Island shows the baby dolphin’s tail moments before she emerges from her mother. Once she is born, she shoots up to the water’s surface to take her first breath, then quickly swims alongside her mother.

The birth occurred in a man-made lagoon at Dolphin Quest Hawaii at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, where visitors can touch and swim with the marine mammals.

Resort chiefs will monitor the baby around the clock for now, as its first 30 days of life are its most critical in terms of survival, says Julie Rocho-Levine, manager of marine animals for Dolphin Quest.

Trainers will closely note when the baby nurses, among other things.

Officials say it is the first calf for the mother, Keo.

“I’m a mom myself, so I feel like I was able to appreciate her just calm, relaxed nature throughout the whole entire situation,” said Ms Rocho-Levine, who was there for the birth. “It seemed as though she (Keo) was seeking out that human companionship and finding comfort in the people she knows and spends her days with.”

Full story: Press Association