This year, 3 juvenile albino dolphins have been captured for captivity in Taiji, Japan. This is a tragedy in itself but Im going to look at this from a scientific point of view rather than from the view of an animal activist.. Strangely enough in no other years have albino specimens been captured and interestingly enough the occurrence of albinism within cetaceans is around 1 in 300,000 which is extremely rare. So why is this year different.. I have a view observations, that MAY explain the higher rate of albinism this year. In Chernobyl, higher than normal rates of albino birds have been recorded due to effects of radiation. In 2011 the Japanese nuclear power plant in Fukushima suffered a catastrophic melt down after an earthquake, it has since been leaking highly radioactive materials into the oceans. So much radioactive material has leaked from the plant that particles have been identified as far away as the West coast of the USA. So we could ask ourselves, is the high radiation from Fukushima resulting in a higher rate of albinism in the cetaceans around Japan? (Here is the link to the report on the birds: news.nationalgeographic/news/2007/04/070418-chernobyl-birds_2.html) Another explanation could be the high levels of mercury from pollution. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal which is found in increasingly high levels in the worlds oceans. High levels of mercury are the reason that on the Faroe Islands, where people hunt and eat dolphins, are discouraged from eating dolphin meat if they are pregnant. Mercury and heavy metals are also not only highly toxic but are also linked with causing albinism. (Link to info about mercury toxicity in humans: medicalnewstoday/articles/250554.php) So maybe the poor albino dolphins captured in Taiji this year are just examples of miraculous nature, or maybe humans have yet again, caused something disastrous and sinister in the seas around Japan. Either way, Im avoiding tuna for the foreseeable future...
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 19:40:22 +0000
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