Why Recycle?
Here are a few reasons to recycle plastics and keep them out of our oceans. It’s estimated that 40,000 seals die each year from plastic entanglements. Naturally curious seals often play with fragments of plastic netting or packing straps, catching their necks in the webbing. The plastic can restrict the seal’s movements, killing the seal […]
Great White Hunter
The great white shark is the most feared animals of the sea. It is a perfectly adapted aquatic apex predator and designed for the hunt. Sharks and their family have been in our oceans for several million years and have been unchanged in shape, style and form in that time. They are so perfect that […]
Natural Pest control
Many people use the word ‘organic’ in promoting a lot of products from meat and vegetables to clothing. But how organic is it? Well one of the best and organic ways to control pests is to let the professionals handle them. Those professionals being bats and owls. Most of the pests we have in our […]
What is that white stuff on Robberg?
While on our boat trips many people ask me what the white stuff is on Robberg. It kind of looks like someone took white wash to the rocks. Well there is a very simple answer. It is bird guano. There are many Cape Cormorants that roost on Robberg and they are roosting in a staggered […]
Japanese Beetle (Popillia Japonica)
Popillia Japonica, commonly known as the Japanese Beetle, is a destructive, invasive pest in Canada. About 15 mm long and 10 mm wide, it has an iridescent, copper-coloured elytra, and green thorax and head. It is not a destructive pest in Japan because it has natural predators that keep its numbers under control. One such […]
Blainville’s Beaked Whale
On the 6th of March, a Blainville’s Beaked Whale beached itself on the rocks at the Beacon Island Hotel. The presence of this animal drew quite the crowd and the NSRI were also called to the scene to assist. Unfortunately with cetaceans (whales and dolphins), they are protected species, so with all good intentions, not […]
Staggering Growth of Rhino Poaching
Save the Rhino! Rhino poaching has been on the increase from 2000 with only on average 15 Rhinos killed between 2000-2007. In 2008-83, 2009-122, 2010-333 and in 2011-369 rhino’s killed in total. This amounts to more than one rhino per day. Rhino horn has become a precious commodity and drastically so since 2007 which coincides […]
Seahorse Compatibility
Hello my name is Manon, and I am a volunteer at the Orca Foundation. Today we decided to tackle the problem in our seahorse tank! We were cleaning the tank one day when we spotted a sea anemone (species unknown). The problem is that they sting the seahorses, they eat the seahorse food and they […]
Marine Strandings
Whales, dolphins and penguins are animals that shouldn’t be at the beach so if you see these animals stranded, there probably is something wrong. Seals can spend time on the beach and they can look very tired but usually it is best to leave seals alone and if they haven’t moved after twenty four hours, […]