Fetal Pig Dissection

An eye, a lens

 Kidney: Renal Medulla, Renal Pelvis, Cortex

 Eye, lens, tongue

 Brain

 Stomach, small intestine, large intestine

 Heart: left & right atrium, left & right ventricles, apex, aorta

The Cove

Where is the dolphin slaughter taking place?
Taiji, Japan.

What country indirectly runs the International Whaling Commission?
Japan.

How many dolphins are killed at this secret cove a year?
23,000.

What toxic substance is found in dolphin meat?
Mercury.

When was whaling banned?
1986.

If you go to Marineland are you contributing to the dolphin slaughter? Explain why or why not.
Yes, if I go to Marineland I am contributing to the dolphin slaughter because the whole purpose of capturing the dolphins in the first place is to sell the best of the best to the trainers from such as Marineland. When people pay to see dolphin shows, whether they know it or not, they are supporting the captivity of these creatures. And as long as the demands are present to the fishermen in Taiji, they will corner thousands of dolphins to their hiding place and either slaughter the living, breathing organisms and blindly sell their highly toxic meat to people or the "lucky" chosen ones get to live but get their freedom taken away. So yes, the necessity to entertain ourselves contributes to mass slaughter of dolphins.

ROM: Attack of the Jellys!!!!

So long time ago, my bio class got to go on a field trip to the Royal Ontario Museum! I was very excited because that was the only field trip I will have this semester. However, my excitement has been crushed soon after we arrived at ROM. And that is because a very nice gentleman, who is an excellent storyteller, guided us through everything that is wrong with our ecosystem. There were many species that were bound to be extinct, were going to be extinct but sustained their population or have already been extinct all thanks to human activities. Among many tragic stories, I have decided to talk about Jellyfish! *Jellyfish are not actually fish so technically they are just Jellys* 

There are many speculations to what had happened to the jellys but one thing is for certain, jellys are taking over the ocean! Some theories to this phenomena are over-fishing, and rising oceanic temperature from global warming. The fish and jelly populations are very intertwined with each other. The fish and jelly prey on the same kinds so when fish are out of the picture, jelly had more food to themselves. Also, as the population of jellys increase, more fish eggs are eaten by the jelly. Also, the rising temperature produce the perfect breeding ground for the jelly. It is a huge problem for food supply for humans because on one hand, the useful resources are decreasing and on the other, mesh of problems to clean up are increasing. 

Some scientists say that the fear of these Jellyfish are overblown. The jellyfish blooms have happened before and it is part of the cyclical increase. Eventually, the population of jellys will oversize the available food supply and lead to a crash. 

Whatever the case may be, the over-fishing and rising temperature are definitely not helping the marine ecosystem.

Shark Fin Ban

Couple of months ago, Toronto council voted to ban shark fin because of the animal cruelty that came along with shark fin fishing. However, soon after the ban, human rights complaints have been filed against the new law. The main reason for this complaint is because of the traditional shark fin soup the Chinese-Canadian community love and enjoy. Many people feel that by banning shark fin, they are also banning the their culture.

Most of the times, traditions are awesome. It gives groups of people an identity, it defines them and gives the uniqueness to differ from others. However, traditions sometimes result in ignorance when people go to the extreme to maintain the traditions. This is not just with the shark fins but many other issues. People get so caught up in trying to keep up their practices that they are willing to hurt others if that's what it takes.

Perhaps the best way to solve this situation is not to criticize the conservative people but to target the new generation. Once the lifestyle has been set, it is set in stone for many of the people and it is almost impossible to change that habit. So make the fresh and open-minded minds aware of these issues. But it better be done soon because the time is ticking.