Why We Can’t Shake Ambergris - Hakai Magazine
Aug 17, 2021 — In December 2020, British woman Jodie Crews posted photos online of a mysterious object she’d found at a beach. One helpful respondent suggested poking the object with a hot pin to see if it smoked, a common (if unreliable) test for ambergris. Crews did, and the object exploded into flames, setting fire to her kitchen.
Are COVID-19 Lockdowns Really Causing Nature to Heal?
May 26, 2021 — Share. As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold last spring and people around the world went into lockdown, a certain type of news story started to spring up—the idea that, in the absence of people, nature was returning to a healthier, more pristine state. There were viral reports of dolphins in the canals of Venice, Italy, and pumas in the streets ...
Hakai Magazine
6 days ago — The coast is a hazardous place. On top of wild weather you might have to contend with geological hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides. See more at hakai.org. Made next to the 🌊 in Victoria, Canada - ISSN 2371-5790. Part …
Migrating Seabirds Are Bringing Forever Chemicals into the Arctic
Oct 4, 2024 — Between March and May each year, 15 million black-legged kittiwakes gather from across the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to nest and breed on rocky Arctic cliffs—some making the journey from as far as Florida or North Africa. But a new study suggests these seabirds don’t arrive empty-handed. They carry souvenirs from the south: forever ...
Treasure Fever - Hakai Magazine
Jan 14, 2020 — They recovered over 18,000 silver coins. The world’s most famous explorer of the high seas, Mel Fisher, won rights to Spain’s Nuestra Señora de Atocha, which sunk near the Dry Tortugas islands, over 56 kilometers west of Key West, Florida, in 1622. The discovery was valued at nearly $400-million.
Galapagos Giant Tortoises Prove Their Worth as Ecosystem …
In the late 19th century, whalers, settlers, and pirates changed the ecology of the Galapagos Islands by poaching some native species—like Galapagos giant tortoises—and introducing others, like goats and rats. The latter species became pests and severely destabilized the island ecosystems. Goats overgrazed the fruits and plants the ...
Iceland’s Confusing Inter-cetacean Conflict | Hakai Magazine
Sep 23, 2021 — Interactions between killer and pilot whales have only been scientifically documented a few times, and Samarra is among the first scientists to have observed this behavior in Iceland. Since the 2015 encounter, she’s seen similar interactions around 20 times. Iceland’s pilot whales may be assuming that the killer whales in the area, which ...
Death of a Modern Wolf - Hakai Magazine
Oct 17, 2017 — They were waiting for a wolf. They didn’t have to wait long. The wolf, a large, tawny male, emerged from the forest around noon, recognizable at a distance by the ruff of black fur that framed his face. Perhaps sensing the lurking human presence, he ducked back into the forest, just like any normal wolf should.
Petrifying Climate Change - Hakai Magazine
Jun 3, 2021 — The biggest seems to be the amount of solids the process would create once it’s operating at a scale meaningful enough to affect climate change. Removing 10 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide from the ocean, for instance, would yield 20 gigatonnes of carbonates—at a minimum, says Sant. He does have an idea for what to do with all these solids ...
The Island That Humans Can’t Conquer | Hakai Magazine
Oct 6, 2020 — St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska. Marooned in the Bering Sea halfway to Siberia, it is well over 300 kilometers and a 24-hour ship ride from the nearest human settlements. It looks fittingly forbidding, the way it emerges from its drape of fog like the dark spread of a wing.