Free Republic

Extraordinary and beautiful examples of toroidal vortices produced by dolphins, beluga whales, humpback whales, volcanoes, hydrogen bombs, and man. A toroidal vortex, also called a vortex ring, is a region of rotating fluid moving through the same or different fluid where the flow pattern takes on a toroidal (doughnut) shape. The movement of the fluid is about the poloidal or circular axis of the doughnut, in a twisting vortex motion. Examples of this phenomenon are a smoke ring or a microburst. Vortex rings were first mathematically analysed by the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, in his paper of 1867 On...

If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy has a backup plan to save one-fifth of the world's daily oil trade: send in the dolphins. The threat of Iran closing the strait has reached a fever pitch, reports today's New York Times, with U.S. officials warning Iran's supreme leader that such moves would cross a "red line" provoking a U.S. response. Iran could block the strait with any assortment of mines, armed speed boats or anti-ship cruise missiles but according to Michael Connell at the Center for Naval Analysis, “The immediate issue [for the U.S. military] is to...

Marine biologist Jo Wiszniewski has observed a fascinating approach to mating among the Port Stephens Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. According to a recent research paper published by the Journal of Animal Ecology, groups of male dolphins who put aside their sexual competitiveness and form alliances with each other to seek out and reproduce with females have better reproductive success than males who go it alone. “These results are fascinating because it demonstrates that male bottlenose dolphins need to cooperate with each other to maximise their reproductive success,” says Wiszniewski. The alliances are usually made up of two to four males and...

This is from NBC in FL.: Angry Fans Plan to Occupy the Miami Dolphins During Sunday's Game vs. Denver "No one is trying to get arrested like those folks in Occupy Wall Street," said angry Dolphin fan behind protest planned for Sunday By Janie Campbell | Saturday, Oct 22, 2011http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/sports/132343108.html Here I copy a comment from that page:Why do we all smell a racist rat (the one interviewed by NBC - Ms. Nawaz Arabic name)? That aside, I am all for some of the good things some of the 'OCCUPY' members advocate for, but not the haters' agenda of hatred...

Dolphins "talk" to each other, using the same process to make their high-pitched sounds as humans, according to a new analysis of results from a 1970s experiment. The findings mean dolphins don't actually whistle as has been long thought, but instead rely on vibrations of tissues in their nasal cavities that are analogous to our vocal cords.

MIAMI – The wife of Brandon Marshall has been released on bond after authorities say she stabbed the Miami Dolphins wide receiver. According to a Broward County Sheriff's Office arrest report, Michi Nogami-Marshall stabbed her husband in the abdomen with a kitchen knife Friday evening. The report says she told officers she was defending herself.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says Navy training off the San Diego County coast has been linked to the deaths of at least three dolphins and may be responsible for two more. . . . Environmentalists have called on the Navy to suspend activities involved in the deaths and conduct a transparent investigation. A spokesman says the Navy is continuing its training program in the area.

A Pennsylvania woman on vacation in Florida took a tip from two dolphins to save a lost Doberman Pinscher that got stranded on a sandbar. When Audrey D'Alessandro and her husband, Sam, walked out of their home on Marco Island, near Naples, Fla., to go fishing, "we saw these two dolphins, and they were splashing and making this big commotion" in a canal behind their vacation home, she said. Although it is not uncommon to see dolphins swimming through the canal on their way to the Gulf of Mexico, Audrey D'Alessandro said that this time, "they were just there, in...

Brandon Marshall, star wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, is catching heat from a former Dolphin over a home Marshall bought last month in Southwest Ranches for $4.15 million. Patrick Surtain, a Pro Bowl cornerback who played seven seasons in Miami, said the 17,000-square-foot palace should have been his. Surtain and his wife, Michelle, have sued the builder, Landmark Custom Ranches. The Surtains’ complaint alleges they entered a deal in October 2007 to build the home for $5.2 million.

Dec. 12: New York Jets assistant Sal Alosi apologized after blatantly tripping Miami's Nolan Carroll on the sideline during Gang Green's 10-6 loss to the Dolphins Sunday. New York Jets assistant coach Sal Alosi apologized after blatantly tripping Miami's Nolan Carroll on the sideline during Gang Green's 10-6 loss to the Dolphins Sunday. The strength and conditioning coach was ushered out of New Meadowlands Stadium by a staff member, ignoring interview requests by the New York Post and protected by two security members at an exit. After the Jets confirmed he was the guilty tripper and the NFL announced it...

We know that the New York Jets are a team that likes to be loud and proud about their exploits. They're a team with a lot of swagger even when things are not going well, which they haven't been of late. Less than a week after losing 45-3 to the New England Patriots on Monday Night football, Rex Ryan's bunch lost 10-6 to the Miami Dolphins, and did so in a much more embarrassing fashion... Go to this link for the rest of the story as this video must be seen to be believed. A member of the Jets coaching...

Man grabs shark by tail to stop attack on teen diverAn Australian swimmer who grabbed the tail of a large shark as it attacked a snorkelling tour guide likely saved the young woman's life, a rescuer said Sunday. Nineteen-year-old Elyse Frankcom was leading a swimming with dolphins encounter in waters off western Australia on Saturday when a shark, reportedly a three-metre-long great white, bit into her hip and buttocks. "As the shark bit her, it brushed aside a fairly large male who grabbed hold of the tail of the shark, which then made it let go," one of the first...

Researchers studying dolphins in the Atlantic Ocean have found that, contrary to expectation, dolphins are not opportunistic feeders that take whatever prey is available.

In light of the newly revealed “Blackfish” organization cutting nets holding dolphins in Taiji earlier this week, Captain Paul Watson has written an article clarifying what little the Sea Shepherd know about the European conservation group.“Who and what is blackfish? We do not know,” writes Watson. “In fact, until the report that dolphin holding pen nets had been cut in Taiji harbour and a release to that effect was posted, we had never heard of this group.”What’s odd about this statement is that all of the Blackfish co-founders: Arne Feuerhahn, Christine Bindal, and Wietse van der Werf — are...

Anyone else see that at the stoppage of play at 11:20 EST, the score box came up in Spanish calling NYC, "Neuva York?" Time for us to go to war, people.

DAVIE, Fla. -- Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall said Thursday that if NFL teams lock out the players next year, he will try out for the NBA. Marshall said he plans to audition for either the Denver Nuggets or the Miami Heat.

On June 21st, these men flew over the closed Gulf airspace and have video of heavy oil far out into the Gulf, including sharks and dolphin pods swimming in oil. That video and the narrator's interview on CNN is included.

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti expressed his anger and ordered an investigation Friday into the treatment a Miami Dolphins player received at the county jail; he alleges he received special treatment. Miami Dolphin Phillip Merling practiced on Friday after being released from the jail a day earlier. BSO Sheriff Lamberti said Merling received special treatment by being released through a side door at the jail to avoid reporters, and he was given a ride home by a BSO employee.

Whales and dolphins deserve 'human rights' because of their intelligence Whales and dolphins should get "human rights" to life and liberty because of mounting evidence of their intelligence, a group of conservationists and experts in philosophy, law and ethics have argued. Published: 6:01PM BST 23 May 2010 Japan, Norway and Iceland, the main whaling nations, oppose arguments that would outlaw hunting or even keeping the mammals in marine parks. They have long said there is no real evidence that they are smarter, for instance, than cows or pigs. But participants at a University of Helsinki conference said a growing number...

Some 20 pink dolphins were apparently poisoned and killed by poachers in Bazagan Lagoon in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, the Lima press said Saturday. According to the daily La Republica, these pink dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) are believed to have been poisoned by fishermen to keep them from damaging their fishing nets. The bodies of the cetaceans, between adults and young specimens 2 to 3 meters (6 1/2 to 10 feet) long, were found floating in Bazagan Lagoon, Requena province, in the northeastern region of Loreto, the Lima daily said. La Republica said on Saturday that the pink dolphins...