The fossil impression of a prehistoric land-based whale Early whales hunted at sea but spent the rest of their time on land, suggest two newly-described fossil whales — one of them a pregnant female — believed to represent a transitional species between earth- and water-bound behemoths. Dating from 47.5 million years ago, the whales had large teeth suited for consuming fish, and flipper-like limbs that could support their weight on...

Our friends over at Project Aware recently teamed up with, dive business owners and dive supporters united as the voice of the dive community in Bangkok, Thailand at the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CITES CoP16). On 1 March, before the meeting opened, we made our message loud and clear – healthy shark and ray populations are priceless. “We sincerely thank each and every AWARE diver and shark...

Sceptics expected that a deep-water dive would debunk the slew of extra-terrestrial theories surrounding an unidentified object sitting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. But the Swedish expedition team that took the plunge surfaced with more questions than answers – and certainly no solution to its origins. The divers found that the object, which some have likened to the Millennium Falcon because of its unusual round outline, was...

Watch the documentary Mermaids have been a popular subject of art and literature for centuries. The legendary aquatic creature with the upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, China, and India. On May 27, 2012, Discovery’s Animal Planet aired “Mermaids: The Body Found”, a two-hour special that paints a somehow convincing picture of the...

Are we turning sharks into circus animals? Or simply showing a gentler side? Last week, we posted a picture to our wall of lover of the sea, Ocean Ramsay, riding on the fin of a Great White Shark. It seemed to receive mixed responses. From ‘good on her’, to ‘that’s just dangerous’, and especially ‘how disrespectful to the animal’. Ramsay has also had similar interactions with Tiger Sharks (pictured)...

Sea Shepherd have been declared ‘pirates’ under international maritime law after continued attacks on Japanese whaling vessels. Here, Japanese whaling vessels claim the Sea Shepherd is ramming one of their ships. A US court has declared the conservation group Sea Shepherd to be “pirates” and ordered it to stop its aggressive actions against Japanese whalers. The ruling was issued on Wednesday by chief judge Alex...

In the crystal waters of the Bahamas, diver Eli Martinez can make a Tiger Shark roll over with a simple touch. The 41-year-old has, who traveled to the Bahamas several times a year for the past decade, has built a relationship with the Tiger Sharks which now get so close that he can rub his face against theirs. Eli, pictured, has a developed a close relationship with the Tiger Sharks. But despite the amazing level of trust he employs to...