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| Carl Sagan's COSMOS is one of the most influential science programs ever made.
Q. Does the moon have a dark side?
A. The moon does have a far side which is impossible to see from the earth, but it doesn't mean that it's always dark. Each side of the moon is dark for no longer than 15 days at a time.
Q. Where does sound come from?
A. The air is always filled with sound waves. All things give off vibrations, but some have a low frequency which most cannot hear. The reason: it may take 3 minutes to make a single vibration. They may be caused by earthquakes and storms.
Did You Know?
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
Coke-a-Cola was originally green.
Rubberbands last longer when refrigerated.
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Monk Seals
by Jeanette Cain
Monk seals have been on the edge of extinction for many years. They once roamed the Pacific, Caribbean, and Mediterranean, but one of their last shelters is within the islets and sandspits of the Hawaiian Island National Wildlife Refuge.
The monk seal is considered a living fossil by some, since they are so shy, rare, and have roots from ancient origins. From the writings recorded by Aristotle, the monk seals acquired an almost mystic aura. Columbus saw the first seal on his trip to the New World, and shortly thereafter, the monk seal was slaughtered by the hundreds, or possibly the thousands. The last known sighting of a monk seal in Caribbean waters was in 1952. The seal that had survived for about 15 million years was going extinct.
With this data, it is almost certain that the Caribbean monk seal is extinct, and the Mediterranean monk seals are probably less than five hundred. The greatest hope for the monk seal is within the genus Monachus of the French Frigate Shoals of the Hawaiian Islands. The monk uses the coral atolls for its breeding area. It is also the French Frigate Shoals that is home to one of three major pupping areas for the monk seal.
Researchers have been tagging the monk seals to keep a chart of their life cycle, their movements, and the success of this rehabilitation program. The monks will molt each year with fur the color of black. Researchers use yellow tags for the seals of French Frigate Shoals, and a letter code for the year that the pup seal was tagged along with a number identifying the individual monk seal.
There has been such a decline in the female monk seal birth that males have turned to barbarous methods of attempting to mate, but, in a majority of cases, the female will not survive this treatment, which puts a greater decline on the monk seal family. With so few females, males may gang up on a female, possibly 25 or more at a time, which usually results in the female's skin being ripped, often so deep that the back muscles, or spinal column, are exposed. The females that survive this treatment may be finished off by the sharks. This obvious slaughter is the direct result of only a handful of female monk seals for mating. The males, with few options of mating, will unknowingly destroy their chance and the chance of other monk seals to reproduce by this ugly display of nature.
Researchers are doing their best to keep this once friendly seal from going extinct, but they will need help from others. If you believe you can help the monk seals, please contact the Worldwide Wildlife Fund for ways that you can help save the monk seal from extinction.
Source:
1. Curtsinger, Bill. National Geographic: "Home of the Monk Seal." National Geographic: US. January 1992 issue. pps.129-144
Further Study:
Hawaiian Monk Seals
Hawaiian monk seals are pinnipeds, which is the order of marine mammals including seals, sea lions and walruses. There are believed to be about 34 different species of pinnipeds.
Monachus. org: the monk seal Internet site
Fact-sheets on the Mediterranean (Monachus monachus) Hawaiian (Monachus schauinslandi) and Caribbean (Monachus tropicalis) monk seals, their biology, behaviour and habitat, their history and decline...
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