January 2021

Seychelles Beach

Seychelles drops quarantine for vaccinated travellers

The Seychelles has reopened its borders and dropped quarantine requirements to travelers vaccinated against Covid-19. Vaccinated visitors can now enter the island nation without having to quarantine for 10 days provided they present a negative PCR test result taken within 72 hours of travel. Travelers must also submit a certificate from their national health authority to verify both doses of the vaccine have been administered.

Brazil's Fernando de Noronha

Baia dos Porcos and Doïs Irmaos islets, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
Baia dos Porcos and Doïs Irmaos islets, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil

Five hundred and twenty-five kilometres from Recife on the northeastern coast of South America (or 350km from Natal as the crow flies), the minuscule specks of land of Fernando de Noronha are to Brazil what the Galapagos Islands are to Ecuador—but on the other side of the continent.

The harbour porpoise is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean.
The harbour porpoise is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean.

Increases in California harbor porpoise population due to gillnet ban

Before they were closed down, these fisheries would cause the deaths of many harbor porpoises, as they ended up as bycatch in the fisheries' gillnets. And based on the numbers, it is apparent that such coastal set gillnets had taken a greater toll on the harbor porpoises than we realized.

This is the finding of a paper published in the Marine Mammal Science journal.

The blow of a blue whale
The blow of a blue whale

Whale songs reveal existence of new blue whale population

There are different populations of blue whales worldwide, and each can be identified by its own whale songs.

A new population has been identified based on its unique whale song, recorded in three locations: the Arabian Sea coast of Oman, the Chagos Archipelago in the central Indian Ocean, and Madagascar in the southwest Indian Ocean.

This discovery was reported in the journal Endangered Species Research.

The fossil in question: Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis from the Lower Ordovician (Tremadocian) Fezouata Shale, Zagora Morocco
The fossil in question: Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis from the Lower Ordovician (Tremadocian) Fezouata Shale, Zagora Morocco

Starfish-like fossil holds clues to evolutionary past

A well-preserved fossil dating back 480 million years is being used by researchers at the University of Cambridge to decipher the origins of the modern-day starfish.

Named Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis, the fossil was discovered in Morroco's Anti-Atlas mountain range. Frozen in time for 480 million years, the fossil yields features that are similar to both sea lilies and modern-day starfish.