Pop Culture

A wild dolphin in south Australia has been teaching members of her group to walk on their tails, a behavior usually seen only after training in captivity.

Scientists are scratching their heads -- why would the dolphins do this?

Well, one of the female dolphins, Billie, could have learned the behavior by observation during her brief stint in a dolphinarium.

Or they might be watching too much Olympic gymnastics. Plus, it just looks like fun.

Aaron Peirsol's teammate Ryan Lochte won his first individual gold medal in the 200-meter backstroke final in a world record of 1 minute, 53.94 seconds.

While many assumed Aaron would become the first man in 36 years to sweep the Olympic backstroke events at consecutive Games, the "greatest backstroker of all time" took second place in stride.

As he said to the Orange County Register, “It really doesn’t take anything away from my career, a race is a race. You can get beat, no one owns anything.”

The event brings Aaron's career medal count to 4 golds and two silvers -- not too shabby!

[Image: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images via www.nytimes.com]

I know salmon don't have much to dance about these days; among other threats, the Seattle Post- Intelligencer just published an article about the threat of pesticides to Pacific salmon.

But you can't deny entertainment and a good beat, which the Chemical Brothers appear to understand...

We know you care about the oceans -- but you're busy.

As promised on Monday, a post devoted to Taras Grescoe’s Bottomfeeder, which I just finished reading.

I’ve heard Grescoe called the “Michael Pollan for the oceans,” and I think that designation is pretty accurate. They are both compelling writers -- Pollan deals with the land and how it feeds us (and how we treat it in return), and Grescoe does the same for the oceans.

This morning the CBS Early Show featured our marine scientist Margot Stiles in a segment about this summer's preponderance of jellyfish. Why all the jellies? Suspected reasons include the overfishing and bycatch of their predators, such as the loggerhead sea turtle, tuna and swordfish, as well as pollution and global warming.

All you need is a school of fish, a helicopter and the willingness to jump from it.

Just in time for Discovery Channel's Shark Week, July 27 to Aug. 2, today we released a report revealing that as shark populations decline, the oceans suffer unpredictable and devastating consequences.

Here at Oceana HQ, everyone has been buzzing about the new Batman flick. The consensus is that the movie is genius. Well, I hate to be the one to burst everyone's bubble, but it looks like Batman was no hero - to sharks, that is. Forget Jaws: the Caped Crusader was the original pop culture anti-shark rumormonger.

Okay, this isn't exactly conservation related. But I can't resist relaying the latest in pampering technology: tiny carp called garra rufa, or "doctor fish," that nibble the dead skin on your feet.