There are several times when Tao causes trouble but then there are many times when Tao is a hero, stepping in to protect his canine friends or catching food for them. When Longridge goes duck hunting the animals set off across the rugged Canadian wilderness in an effort to find their way home.Ĭinema Cat: Syn the Siamese Cat shines in his role as Tao in this film and many of the scenes are devoted to him solely. Three animals, a young Labrador Retriever named Luath (played by Rink), a Siamese cat named Tao (played by Syn) and an older Bull Terrier named Bodger (played by Muffey), are being cared for by their owners’ friend, John Longridge (Émile Genest).
Synopsis: Based on the book by Sheila Burnford. Varvara travelled 22,551 kilometres around the north perimeter of the Pacific Ocean and down the US West Coast to Mexico, and back again to Sakhalin, the longest recorded mammal migration in the world.Starring: Émile Genest, John Drainie, Sandra Scott In 2011, a female whale called Varvara was tagged with a satellite tracker.
The western gray whale population at Sakhalin Island is increasing at around 4% a year. Scientists use photo-identification to recognise natural markings on the whales’ bodies, and painless biopsies to tell their sex. The Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP) is a panel of 13 scientists convened by IUCN at the request of Sakhalin Energy, that advises on the best ways to protect whales from harm during oil and gas operations.īased on the recommendation from the WGWAP, in 2005, Sakhalin Energy rerouted a planned pipeline to avoid construction close to a whale feeding area. (Shell is a shareholder in Sakhalin Energy.) Shell and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have worked together since 2004 to protect biodiversity near Sakhalin Energy’s operations in Russia. To collect data that would help them understand and safeguard the population, including where the whales live and how far they travel, a team of scientists from Russia and the United States, with support from the IUCN and the International Whaling Commission, successfully tagged one of the western grey whales with a satellite tracking device in October 2010. The western gray whale is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Until then scientists had believed they existed separately, as the world’s largest ocean, the Pacific Ocean, lies between them. The voyage demonstrated that the small group of around 170 western gray whales arriving at Sakhalin each summer is in fact connected to the larger eastern gray whale population. Like migrating birds, scientists assumed they went south in the winter, along the Asian coast to the South China Sea.īut in 2010, one 13-year-old whale made an incredible journey, trekking vast ocean distances and changing marine scientists’ understanding of the entire gray whale population. When the icy Russian winter returns, the whales leave. One of the smallest populations of whales in the world, they come in pairs and small groups from May to early June, and spend the summer feeding in the shallow coastal waters. Every summer at Sakhalin Island in Russia’s far east, the gray whales arrive.