National Geographic's Ocean Now is a project to study the last healthy, undisturbed places in the ocean. You can follow along as Dr. Enric Sala and a team of scientists explore the pristine waters of their most recent destination: Cocos Island.
This Ocean Now site provides you with the opportunity to have your questions answered by the crew aboard the research vessels. You can ask questions about life on a research vessel, species they have studied, and most importantly what are the effects of the "Human Footprint" on one of the last healthy and undisturbed places left on Earth.
You can get real time scientific data direct from the source, learn and discover right along with the scientists themselves, read comments made by students from around the world and participate on the expedition blog.
For example, from just last Friday, Sept. 25, 2009
09:36am
Despite their big mouths and their amazing size—up to 15 meters—whale sharks are harmless to humans. They feed on zooplankton, larvae of several species, and small species such as crabs, shrimp, and jellyfish. They are attracted to seamounts and offshore promontories such as Cocos, because currents bring their food to these sites.
When just the day before they filmed this video;
Let me know what you think of this website. Marine and Environmental Science students can gather some excellent scientific information.
The comments box is open:
What questions might you ask a scientist on an expedition like this?
How could you use this site to improve your understandings of our environment ?
What more would you like to know?
Its is an awesome website and i will defiently use it for research, the whale shark is so cool!
ReplyDeleteMichael S., Blue
Glad you can use it Michael. ...( yeah the shark really is pretty cool)
ReplyDeleteThe video was amazing!If the whal sharks eat jellyfish do the stingers sting them?If such a big animal eats so small things how much food does it eat a day?
ReplyDeleteTaylor Myers per.#3
To me personally my favorite shark would be the great white shark because its mostly likely the strongest shark there is but the whale shark is probably has the best color on its coat.
ReplyDeleteAby Albert (orange)Per.2
Taylor, the whale shark has very few nerve endings inside its "mouth".. it would take a VERY big jelly fish to hurt it... it really prefers very small plankton( floaters) like true baleen whales.
ReplyDeleteGood question though.
probably one of the questions i would ask a scientist on this expedition is why the bigest fish in the ocean eat the most small things their are to eat....????i guess thats just the way it is.
ReplyDeleteWhat an EXCELLENT observation on your part .
ReplyDeleteActually there is a reason... it's called the trophic pyramid, just in case you wanted to pursue further.
Note: You could actually ask one of the scientists and discover what happens?
I really love this website i can find a lot of intresting and helpful things. I would like to learn more about sea turtles bacause in the video they seemed very interesting and i would like to learn more about them
ReplyDeleteThe video is really cool. I think that the picture of the whale shark is interesting. It is really odd that they are so big and yet they eat tiny zooplankton.
ReplyDeleteI think that thats weird that such a big creature would eat something so small.
ReplyDeletebruce red p1
What a big fish! I think its so intresting because of how calm it is. Normally people would think that such a big shark would surely eat them but this is not the case! Personally id even like to swim with this big but yet elgent creature. I loved the website and would go back anytime. Please post more about the sea turtle its so facinating!
ReplyDeleteKailee per.6 (violet)
I find it really strange how one of the biggest animals in the ocean eat the tiniest things. They must eat a lot of those tiny plankton, shrimp, crabs and other things. Do they eat a lot of tiny organisms at a time? The website is great to get information about the ocean and other things also.
ReplyDeleteJordan Group orange
This video was awsome! I wish I could learn more about the whales, sharks and what they eat and how it live.
ReplyDeleteLucas Chouinard Period#3
The photos were really cool...the video with the turtle looks awesome.But arn't whale sharks like really huge?! And if you are scared of them you shouldn't be becuase whale sharks only eats plankton by filter feeding right? It flilters through it's baleen.
ReplyDeleteMichelle M. P.3 yellow
P.S.if you don't be careful can't a whale shark suck you into his mouth?
Michelle, yes they are big.. but I really think the whale shark would turn away or close its mouth if you got too close. They are sort of like that in a slow lazy way.
ReplyDeleteI can not find the quiz on the blog!! What do I do! You showed my class and I looked but i still cant find it!
ReplyDeleteYou would think that the little tiny fish would easily be able to avoid the whale shark, how can something so big see and eat somthing so small? and it must swallow sooooo... much water to, Is there like a filter or somthing that filters the saltwater from the fish??
ReplyDeleteGrant DeBiase (blue)
i think that the whale shark is cool and i like to learn about this kind of stuff. I dont know what oter kind of stuff i would want to learn just more about the animals.How did you find out about all this imformation?
ReplyDeletefrom alex malia
to anonymous 6:07 PM
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you couldn't find the quiz on the blog,
but you forgot to identify yourself so I can't help a whole lot.
You will find it at the end of "TOP to BOTTOM" blog.. the next one after this one. QUICK QUIZ.
i ilke the vid its cooll and relaxing ther is a lot of cool info i will come back later for more info thanks mr. v!: jacob stull 1st period evi sci
ReplyDeleteoh and the turtles are amazing :jake
ReplyDeletemr.v how do I find the key species in my marine sanctuary and what is it. Damian
ReplyDeleteDamian,
ReplyDeletethis is the wrong site for Marine Sanctuaries. You have to go to National Marine Sanctuaries blog entry.. scroll WAYYY up /\
Then Click on the link ... it is right at the top of that blog entry. When you get to the Home page for NMS you click on your chosen site and then search and you will find lots of information about the key species.