Animals as Metaphysical, Moral, And/Or Legal Persons

In Historic Ruling, Pair of Chimpanzees Recognized as 'Legal Persons' | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community: 

(Photo: pastries71/flickr/cc)

For the first time in U.S. history, a judge has effectively recognized two chimpanzees as legal persons, in an order Monday which will allow a pair of research primates—Hercules and Leo—to seek relief from unlawful imprisonment.

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Are Animals People? | Talking Philosophy: 

Since corporations are legal persons, it hardly seems absurd to make animals into legal people. After all, higher animals are certainly closer to human persons than are corporate persons. These animals can think, feel and suffer—things that actual people do but corporate people cannot. So, if it is not absurd for Hobby Lobby to be a legal person, it is not absurd for my husky to be a legal person. Or perhaps I should just incorporate my husky and thus create a person.

Humpback whales attempt to protect gray whales from orcas. Humpbacks > Humans

BBC Nature - Humpback whales intervene in killer whale hunt: 

BBC Nature

After the attack, two humpback whales moved into the area where the calf was last seen alive. They continued to make trumpeting calls, rolled in the water and slashed their tails aggressively at killer whales that came near. 

According to Mrs Schulman-Janiger the whole encounter lasted seven hours.

I was going to turn this into a parable for North Carolina voters (and those who didn't bother yesterday) but it was a bit of a stretch and the whales are interesting enough on their own without making it all about us. Stupid humans.

Please enjoy this mariachi band serenading a beluga whale‬‏

‪Mariachi Connecticut Serenades a Beluga Whale‬‏ - YouTube: 

h/t Vulture

Whale meat is murder?

In the company of whales - Environment - Macleans.ca:

Morrissey via Toronto Sun

The Dominica Sperm Whale Project aims to get to know these whales “personally,” Gero says, and study them as individuals. Like Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey did in their groundbreaking research on primates, Gero has followed families of sperm whales from birth to maturity, learning about their daily lives in a way that’s never before been done with large whales that live in the open sea.

Moz has been roundly denounced, not without justification, for his insensitive comments about the massacre in Norway relative to what McDonald's and KFC do day in and day out. But would we be so quick to call him an ass if whales and chimps were slaughtered with the same regularity as cows and chickens?

I don't know. 

As promised/threatened, here's my Perry the Platypus on Fleck ...

Fleck: Grow Your World!

Perry, domesticated platypus mode, my second try at a flecktion.

The first was a generic, Fudgy/Pucky/Fail Whale inspired whale.

Yes, I am ridiculous. But the kids like'em.

Skinny Dips With Whales (For Science)

Naked female scientist tries to tame beluga whales in the arctic | Mail Online:

Image via Mail Online News

Braving sub-zero temperatures, she has thrown caution — and her clothes — to the wind to tame two beluga whales in a unique and controversial experiment.

Natalia Avseenko, 36, was persuaded to strip naked as marine experts believe belugas do not like to be touched by artificial materials such as diving suits.

I chose a SFW picture. I didn't think I'd find another whale link today as interesting as the last one, but here you go. Hollywood, heads up!

Via:

RT @banditelli: .naked female scientists. thats what we talk about when we're #notAtNN11 #nn11 is MISSING.OUT.Fri Jun 17 00:02:14 via TweetDeckJoshua Holland
JoshuaHol

Bowhead lance tip bio-archeology

Bowhead whale found with a century-old lance in its blubber « Why Evolution Is True: 

Image via Why Evolution is True

It’s hard to age whales, and it’s usually done by looking at the proportion of right-handed amino acids in the eye-lens proteins, a proportion that increases with age. A more direct estimate, showing the extreme longevity of these leviathans, was just obtained from dissection of a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) killed by Inuits off the coast of Alaska. According to MSNBC, an explosive (but perhaps unexploded) lance tip was found embedded in the whale’s blubber, a tip estimated at more than 100 years old. The whale, then, was estimated to be between 115 and 130 years old. Ironically, it was killed by a more modern version of the explosive lance.

I guess Inuits have been using the ol' "What if I only put the tip in ...?" wheedle for a long time. 

I'm listening to those clicks and I'm pretty sure I heard one smart-ass whale announce himself as Puddin Tane.

Sperm Whales May Have Names | Wired Science | Wired.com:

Sperm whales via Wired. 

“There is no doubt in my mind that the animals can tell the difference between the timing of individuals.” Moreover, 5R tends to be made at the beginning of each coda string as if, like old-time telegraph operators clicking out a call sign, they were identifying themselves. Said Rendell, “It may function to let the animals know which individual is vocalizing.”

The Mere Existence of Whales ...

The Mere Existence of Whales | The Loom | Discover Magazine: 

Blue whales do get cancer, but it’s hard to believe that they get it at the rates that come out of Caulin and Maley’s calculations. Blue whales are known to live well over a century. Bowhead whales have reached at least 211 years. If blue whales really did get cancer as fast as the models would suggest, they ought to be extinct. 

The failure of the model means that blue whales must have some secrets for fighting cancer. “The mere existence of whales suggests that is possible to suppress cancer many-fold better than is done in humans,” Caulin and Maley write.

One Is The Loneliest Whale Number In The World

The Loneliest Whale in the World - Culture - GOOD:

The cryptozoologist Oll Lewis speculates that the lonely whale might be 'a deformed hybrid between two different species of whale,' or even 'the last surviving member of an unknown species.'

Because let's ask a cryptozoologist about ... anything. 

Japan halts whale hunt after chase by protesters

BBC News - Japan halts whale hunt after chase by protesters: 

Commercial whaling was banned in 1986 but Japan uses a regulation permitting hunting for scientific research.

Iceland and Norway have lodged official objections to the ban and continue to hunt commercially.

Whales Return to NYC

Whales Return to NYC - 'Menagerie of giants' calling New York's waters home:

(Newser) – Whales have returned to the waters around the Big Apple in numbers not seen for at least a century, a comeback experts believe is the result of anti-hunting laws and cleaner waters. Dolphins and seals have also made triumphant returns, and one ferryboat captain estimates the numbers of marine mammals have risen tenfold in recent years. One pod of at least 30 fin whales lives in the waters just beyond the Verrazano Bridge.

I haven't been on a whale watch since at least middle school, but it is simply an awesome experience.

The way it's snowing up there, it's a good thing they aren't orcas.

Blue whale's gigantic mouthful measured

BBC - Earth News - Blue whale's gigantic mouthful measured:

A blue whale's mouth cavity is so vast and stretchy that it can engulf a volume of water equivalent to its own body mass, say scientists.

In related news, Stephen Tyler is a blue whale.

Also a blue whale. (Via Totally Looks Like)

See Google Books’ Adorable Fail Whale -- Vulture (Heh.)

See Google Books’ Adorable Fail Whale -- Vulture:

The 404 error page for Google's new eBookstore makes an unlikely double shout-out to Twitter and Herman Melville.

Surf orcas.

New Zealand orcas join surfers in search for the perfect wave:

image via GrindTV

Orcas, or killer whales, positioned themselves prominently and made it clear they were the real experts -- and that no mere human on a surfboard was going to deny them whatever waves they wanted.

Also worth considering:

Kebab : Surfing Human :: Surfing Human : Orca

Whaling collision 'fault of both sides'

BBC News - Whaling collision 'fault of both sides':

Sea Shepherd had accused the Japanese ship, the Shonan Maru 2, of deliberately ramming its boat, the Ady Gil. The Japanese vessel said the protest boat drove into its path on purpose.

The report by Maritime New Zealand said that several incidents in days leading up to the collision had 'contributed to a tense operating environment and probable uncertainty over each other's intentions'.

Look, I don't know who's at fault here. I wasn't there. But, that Japanese ship name made me think of the Kobayashi Maru so I'm linking this.

Also, Japan, what did the whales ever do to you?! Why not focus on finishing off the great white sharks instead? Eat their fins or whatever you do.

Live Long And Get Harpooned

Harpoon May Prove Whale Was At Least 115 Years Old [Boston.com]