Wild Tobago

How some animals and plants are responding to a warming world. Dr Anjani Ganase looks at some creatures’ adaptations to survive the changing climate.   We are in the anthropocene – the current geological era where human activities have significant impacts on the environment and climate. Indeed, humans are currently driving the sixth mass extinction. To date we are losing species to extinction at a rate of about 2000 species every year (WWF est.). While many die off, other animals and plants are undergoing adaptation for survive either the warming conditions directly or adapting to shifts in habitat conditions, food supply and environment. Scientists who have been monitoring and conducting genetic studies over the last 50 years have been able to match changes in animal physiology (body shape and size) or behaviour (migratory timing) to changes in temperature. There are a few creatures that do benefit from the warmer conditions, although the extent of such bene...

Whale strandings are mysteries whenever they occur, and impossible to predict. Marine ecologist Dr Anjani Ganase considers some recent theories about whales’ navigational systems using the earth’s geomagnetic field and the sun. Human-driven changes are also causes. Over the last month, four melon headed whales stranded themselves on Moruga Beach, and later on there was a single stranding on Maracas Beach. Last year there was a single stranding of a pregnant melon headed whale in Princes Bay, Tobago. These strandings of melon headed whales in several locations around Trinidad and Tobago begs the question of what is the cause of these strandings in recent months. Necropsy – after death analysis - by the UWI School of Veterinary Medicine revealed parasitic infection in one examination of the whale carcasses. Melon headed whales are deep water toothed whales that can be found in tropical waters worldwide, down to 6000 feet depth and far from coastal areas. They usually occur in large ...