Surfing With Sharks in Australia
August 6, 2009 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
Yup, I did that…It all seems a little surreal today as I think back, but I did it.
In fact, if you’re surfing anywhere, you’re likely to be surfing with these heavily teethed fish…
I felt very secure where we were – inside a coral reef by Lancelin Island in Western Australia.
The friends I was with surfing had been coming to this very beach year in and year out from their youth.
I was learning how to boogie-board (sometimes called body boarding) and progressing up to a surfboard.
We never saw anything suspicious – in fact, we never even saw dolphins there.
We surfed at Christmas for about 2 weeks straight every day in between sun tanning and eating seafood, of course…
The last day, right before we left we decided to get one more surf in. I was excited because I’d learned the fundamentals well and was pretty confident, after being banged around a bit on the reef for a good 2 weeks.
Everyone was taking their last ride in on the wave of their choice and for whatever reason, I ended up being the last person out there with people getting out of the water and standing on the beach watching.
Waiting for the perfect final wave to catch, I saw my friends waving at me from the shore, so I waved back, thinking we were all just having a lot of fun.
I caught that next wave and had a great ride in – satisfied with my first surfing experiences during our vacation.
We packed up and were driving North – back home to Perth.
My friends said, “Canuck…” (they called me Canuck because I’m Canadian), “…Remember when we were all waving at you on the beach when you were about to catch your last wave in?”…
I said, “Yes…Why?”
They continued to tell me that they were waving because there was a big shark coming Read more
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My First Shark Sighting – Whitetip Reef Sharks
August 3, 2009 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
Well, the day before we went whale shark swimming in Exmouth, Australia, I took a tour where we snorkeled off of the coast of Exmouth’s pure, white sand beaches.
I was a little nervous about the sharks and asked the “local girl” that came with us if it was pretty safe. She said that the only sharks you’d see would be white-tipped reef sharks and they don’t bug you unless you provoke them, but that we probably wouldn’t even see any of them where we were.
So, I got up the courage to get out there, since I had to be ready for whale shark swimming in the open ocean the next morning, and waded out into the water. I put my face under the water with my mask on, and what’s the first thing I see? A whitetip reef shark!
Wow – I think I grew a Read more
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How to Vacation in Hawaii – Exotically!
April 14, 2009 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
I have always wanted to take a trip to Hawaii…
As you know, my passion is wild animals and guess what it is I want to do when I’m on vacation in Hawaii…
See as much wildlife as I can! That’s what brings me joy!
Hawaii is the home of the spinner and bottleneck dolphins, as well as migrating Alaskan humpback whales, monk seals, and Hawaiian green sea turtles, just to name a few.
In the bird realm, the Albatross likes to nest in Hawaii, so there are Albatross chicks that get to first learn things about the world on the islands.
Of course, I want to see their state bird, the Nene Goose!
Now, I don’t want to stay in the wilderness the whole time we’re there…I’d like to stay at a Maui Resort .
The Ka’anapali Resort would suit us just fine, as they’re on the beach, have a lot of ocean and sightseeing activities available for guests…
I would also love to take in a luau, some great ukulele music and enjoy the botanical gardens, check out the volancoes, take a horseback ride along Hana Coast…
…All in all, explore the different microclimates (including some of the waterfalls), relax with my hubby on the beach, take in the animal sites and sounds, experience a little culture and maybe a little pampering at their spa! LOL
The list gets longer as I think about all the fun things to do – I want to snorkel, take a sail or go whale watching…
I’d love to take a glass bottom sea kayak out with my hubby – We’ve always wanted to do that!!!
…Possibly a little surfing, but on the small waves! LOL…
Maui Weddings would be especially enjoyable here – so much for everyone to do and see and explore!
What would you do in Maui?
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I hope you enjoyed this North American Animal post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…
Live Exotically,
Kimberly Edwards 
P.S. Be sure to Subscribe to Exotic Animal Updates!
Technorati Tags: North American animals, humpback whales, dolphins, Maui resort, Ka’anapali Resort, water recreation, snorkeling, surfing Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaiian animals
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Fantastic Dolphin Bubbles
March 13, 2009 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
This is really amazing…
Have you seen dolphins that blow bubbles and play with them?
Really a fascinating behavior I haven’t seen other marine animals ever partake in.
Check it out in this video:
Aren’t Dolphin Bubbles fabulous?
They are so smart and too sweet! They look like they’re having a great time swimming around with their bubble rings.
I thought it was so funny that they wouldn’t let the other dolphins play with the bubbles they had made…They will pop them before this happens.
I’m amazed how they spin them and swim around making them different sizes too.
I’d love to see this in person at Sea World. I wonder if wild dolphins ever display this behavior and expertise.
Have any of you seen the dolphins do this at Sea World?
When Kenney and I went on our honeymoon to Orlando, we got to Sea World one evening for a Polynesian Luau, and got to sneak a peak at the dolphin nursery. It was a large pool with it seemed a dozen baby dolphins swimming together and playing.
We were so close and it was so beautiful. These creatures are unbelievably cute, intelligent and amicable! I just love them!
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I hope you enjoyed this Marine Animal post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…
Live Exotically,
Kimberly Edwards
P.S. Please be sure to Subscribe to Exotic Animal Updates!
Technorati Tags: dolphins, dolphin bubbles, bubbles, mammals, ocean animals, Sea World, dolphin behavior, animal behavior
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Outraged at Ignorant People Who Are Blind to See the Destruction
February 25, 2009 by Kimberly · 12 Comments
I have a rant today…
The Reason?
I joined a group on Facebook today called “Stop the Massacre of Dolphins & Whales”.
If you go there, you’ll see a photo of a whale, bloodied, being pulled out of the ocean, upside down up to a large ship (shown here to the right). You’ll also see a great write-up about the massacre.
It’s disturbing because we really don’t need to harvest them for anything!!!
I left a comment on the group page, @ 1:41 pm today, that said:
“This is so very horrendous to have to look at…even more horrendous that it is actually happening…
It’s not a movie with serious graphics…It is really happening…Thousands of whales are being slaughtered, most of which are endangered, critically endangered or threatened…
Unbelievable!!!
Kimberly @ ExoticAnimalLover.com”
No word of a lie…@ 3:22 pm, I was rudely emailed by an angry person, which I won’t name here, that said,
“tha whales that are endangered are protected. it is illegal to hunt them. also Humans have also brought tha population of Gray whales back from endangered to a healthy population. Dont come to conclusions after hearing one persons biased side of tha story. As Humans, yes we kill animals, but we protect them more then anything. which is more than I can say for tha whales. do you think that if tha whales were running out of food they would start to conserve? do you think that if whales noticed a population dying, they would care? 100% not. they would wait to realize and die slowly anyways. they should be thanking us for our protection considering they are to inferior to do so themselves.”
How Did I Respond?
Honestly, this is the wrong week to feed me lines of rudeness and ignorance…I’ve had enough, in many areas that I’m passionate about.
I guess, I’ve been pushed to the brink of “I Can’t Take Stupidity Any Longer”!
Here’s what I wrote back:
“Wow…you sound like an angry person…
Take a Read more
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Humpback Dolphins of the Great Barrier Reef
Humpback dolphins frequent the Great Barrier Reef.
There are as many as 5 different species of Humpback Dolphin, but it’s often disputed.
2 species were known to exist even as late as mid-2000, the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin and the Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin.
However, since then studies have shown that these species have diverged into more distinct species.
Here’s a short video I found of some humpback dolphins off the coast of South Africa:
The humpback dolphin that frequents the Australian waters, including the Great Barrier Reef, is the Read more
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Dugongs Are an Extremely Vulnerable Species
February 3, 2009 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
Dugongs are large marine mammals in the same order as manatees, and are often called “sea cows” as a nickname.
The majority of them live in Northern Australian waters…
I’ve had the amazing opportunity to see them out in the wild in Shark Bay off of Western Australia. Fantastic creatures! What an awesome blessing! (I know the video below is of dugongs in Shark Bay, but it will still tell you a lot about them and how they live…)
Dugong bodies are fusiform, which means they are wide in the middle and taper off at both ends.
Their Read more
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Animals of the Great Barrier Reef
February 1, 2009 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
I’m just so darn excited about Great Barrier Reef Month, that I couldn’t wait to start posting about it!
Here’s a little bit of information about how many animals are out there!
There are around 1500 species of fish, 360 species of hard coral, and 600 species of echinoderms and numerous species of sponges.
Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, even into the deepest, darkest water – the abyss.
The group of echinoderms includes starfish, sea cucumbers and urchins.
The reef also boasts 6 species of marine turtles, 200 species of birds, 125 species of sharks, and Read more
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Majestic Animals of the Amazonian Rainforest
February 25, 2008 by Kimberly · 10 Comments
Some of the most amazing animals with vivid coloration and patterns come from the Amazonian Rainforest…
Many of the world’s most endangered animals also hail from the Amazon…
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Amazon Rainforest Animals by Lucien Oliveira
Most of the world’s rainforests are located in Central and South America, West and Central Africa, and Southeast Asia. They are very wet areas near the equator that give true meaning to the expression “world of abundance”, an expression that reflects on the variety of rainforest animals. Brazil holds 30% of all tropical rainforests that remain on Earth, and they are represented by Amazonia.
The Amazon rainforest animals are part of a big ecosystem sustained by an incredible amount of trees and other plants. Almost every inch is covered with vegetation. Amazonia has 427 species of mammals, 1294 species of birds, 378 of reptiles, 427 amphibians, and 3,000 fish. Among the mammals we can find the jaguar, an incredibly agile animal with a powerful bite, giant otters, the pink dolphin, also called “boto” by the natives, which is one of the three species of dolphins on Earth that live on freshwater, sloths (large and slow moving animals), armadillos, the peculiar tamandua, or anteater, tapirs, which are active mostly at night, manatees – the Amazon species is exclusively vegetarian and also one of the three manatee species in the world, etc. However, the majority of mammals are Read more
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Are Animals Getting Smarter?
January 4, 2008 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
By Are animals getting smarter? Not long ago on Utube, I watched some amazing animal videos. In these videos you could see proof of the animal using cause and effect.
In one video, a raccoon was captured in a concrete cage, outside. The top of the cage was opened, but he was enclosed on all four sides. The raccoon, with a lot of effort, was able to lean a broken tree limb, which was lying in the bottom of his cage, in one of the corners of the cage. He then used the broken limb as a ladder and climbed his way out to freedom.
In another video, there was a wild bird, (I don’t recall the species), but he was standing on a pier looking out into the water. Nearby the wild bird on the pier were some bread crumbs – instead of eating the bread crumbs, the wild bird picked up the bread and walked to the end of the pier, dropping the bread into the water. He then waited patiently, never taking his eyes off of the bread. The wild bird was quickly rewarded for his patience when a Read more
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