Save the whales!

Today I just wanted to share a beautiful short video I found on Vimeo. I recommend watching it on full screen with HD option on. It's well worth it, believe me. 

Requiem 2019 from Sil van der Woerd on Vimeo.

Whales are the largest animals that ever lived on the Earth, with blue whales reaching up to 30 meters and 180 tonnes. They are one of the best examples of evolution at work, with vestigial hindlimbs sometimes present inside their bodies even today. This shows that whales are descendants of land-dwelling mammals which belonged to Artiodactyl order. Their closest relatives today are hippos. (This does not mean they evolved from hippos, of course, but that both of these species have a common ancestor). You can read more about the evolution of whales here. 

A humpback whale breaching.

Some people consider whales highly intelligent, what with such a long presence on the planet, and while I'm still very skeptical on this front, it is interesting to consider that they do have different dialects and accents, just like we humans do. Intelligent or not, whales are wonderful animals which should be cherished, instead of slowly killed out (whaling is still legal in some countries, which is both appalling and sad). Not only do humans pollute the oceans with different chemicals and garbage, we also create a terrible sound pollution with ship engines and sonars, which confuse and distress whales that rely on sound for navigation in the dark deep waters. To read more about the threats to whales and dolphins, visit this page. 

It's saddening to see how anthropocentric we as a species have become, and it will take us a long time to figure out how to live in harmony with all the different kinds of animals, whales included. I just hope it will happen soon, before we destroy the biodiversity of the planet, and, with that, ourselves.

P.S. This post may or may not have something to do with today being a 153rd anniversary of official publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, one of the most important books in the history of mankind.