Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND Seamails™
Welcome Teachers. This month we’re posting some of the Seamails and activities from our most recent Virtual Research Missions: Celebration of ConservationandCreep into the DEEPEND. We’ll post the email from the Science Team member, plus photos, videos, activities, Explorer mini-posters (bios) or other related information or links. For our programs, teachers pick and choose, mix and match the Seamails, photos, activities…etc. how ever you would like to use them with your class. (We put the blog — aka Seamail in pdf format for ease of use in the classroom.)
Here’s the first one from Dave Weller from the Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Enjoy
(NOTE: For classroom use only. Seamails, photos, activities and other related curricula are copyrighted and trademarked and cannot be sold, posted, repackaged, or used in any other way without written permission of WhaleTimes, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
What does everyone want for the holidays? Postcards from the DEEPEND, of course! Throughout we’ll post a new Postcard from one of our amazing, talented, and simply fun scientists from the DEEPEND Consortium.
Merry…uh…Happy, no…hmmm, oh, Hooray, it’s HAGFISH DAY!!! Celebrate the anniversary of the 9th Hagfish Day Celebration with us October 18, 2017!!! Nine years of exotic, unusual, some might say ugly (we prefer beauty-challenged) ocean animals.
The beautiful hagfish.
WhaleTimes created Hagfish Day (in 2009) to celebrate the beauty of ugly. Hagfish are the perfect example. These deep-sea scavengers ooze buckets of slime. They also play an important role in their ecosystem. WhaleTimes believes repugnant and slightly revolting animals like hagfish make great role models for highlighting conservation concerns for all marine animals.
“Sometimes it seems as if ecological causes are popularity contests that exclude the less attractive and less well-known, though equally vulnerable, creatures,” said WhaleTimes Director Ruth Musgrave. “There are species in peril that kids never hear about.”
How do you celebrate Hagfish Day? Classrooms, individuals and families can participate by making Hagfish Slime, writing , make or send a Hagfish Bouquet to a friend. It’s sure to be a good slime! Below are some Hagfish Day activities if you just can’t wait to celebrate the beauty of ugly.
What makes for a great Hagfish Day star? Animals that are a combination of unusual, endangered, and beauty challenged.
2017 Hagfish Stars Unveiled
black dragonfish (Echiostoma barbatum)
Heteropods What are heteropods you might ask? According to expert Kris Clark,, “…They’re kind of like little globs of snot looking for other snot-like creatures to eat…”
This summer, museums and science centers throughout the country will offer WhaleTimes’ Creep into the DEEPEND summer camps! Meet our amazing DEEPEND scientists, see their photos, videos, play games, make crafts and more. Check back in to find out if your local museum will join us — or ask your local museum or science center if they’ll be offering Creep into the DEEPEND as part of their summer camp fun.
Research Project:Deep-Pelagic Nekton Dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico
Students become part of the DEEPEND consortium, a group of deep-sea scientists investigating the biodiversity and distribution of animals in the Gulf of Mexico’s deep-sea ecosystem. The deep is by far the largest affected habitat from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The consortium includes more than 30 scientists from 11 different universities and agencies, led by Dr. Tracey Sutton (Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center).
…a consortium of amazing scientists and organizations studying the Gulf of Mexico deep sea. WhaleTimes will share that science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to you through our Creep into the Deep Virtual Research Missions, Postcards from the Deep, Taking Science Deeper Curriculum, and so much more.
Our first Postcards from the Deep…Endarriving this spring.