World Basking Shark Day!
Last edited Fri Nov 3, 2023, 03:01 AM - Edit history (4)
Since DU is the closest thing to social media I have, here goes (I doubt the three paras rule applies here since these guys want the word spread):
https://baskingsharkscotland.co.uk/basking-sharks/world-basking-shark-day
Join us to celebrate world basking shark day on the 3rd November each year. Share information, facts, pictures, videos, science and experiences with the world's 2nd largest endangered fish.
What is it about?
There are lots of 'days' now celebrated online, including world shark day or even international whale shark day. We thought it was about time the basking shark had it's own day and so we came up with an idea to start one. The basking shark is classified as endangered and after a period of intensive hunting in the last century are struggling to recover. They are threatened by a variety of things including changes to their food source through increasing sea temperatures and climate change. However their last stronghold is the North East Atlantic where we have the world's first marine protected area (MPA) for them in Scotland. We've spent the last 10 years studying them and leading tourism excursions to observe them in the wilds of the Hebrides. Now join us to celebrate them as a species, educate more people on how amazing they are along with raising awareness about their struggle to recover from exploitation.
When is it?
3rd November any time during your time zone.
How can I join in?
Post about basking sharks on any social media platform and accompany your post with the #worldbaskingsharkday. Otherwise you could make web pages, or even do some kind of craft or fun event. Unfortunately most of the basking shark will have migrated south and offshore in the NE Atlantic so your chances of seeing a basking shark on world basking shark day is pretty slim!
Eek..their predators?/parasites? Lampreys look pretty bizarre:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamprey
Well in some instances they seem to have had a day of their own anyway ;-/:
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/national_invasive_species_awareness_week_sea_lamprey
Of course here as usual lies the real problem:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_shark
We seem to generally be driving damn near everything to extinction (except factory farmed animals).
= new reply since forum marked as read
And I sure agree! There is no excuse in this day and age for our precious wildlife to become extinct! 
I forward these to keep the steady drumbeat of “doom and gloom” going to remind anyone who sees it of our ecological crises..DU is not really the target audience since people here tend to be aware of these things. But I figure that of the trolls reading the site, maybe one or two will have a change of heart and care about these things 
.
If you have ever seen “I heart Huckabee’s” you may remember the scene where he is telling a bunch of construction workers about the environment and 3 of the 4 guys throw their sandwiches at him. But the fourth guy is all convinced and concerned..such is the life of a green…That was a good movie..
(I am supposed to be offline working but I wander over here whenever I get stuck which is often :-0..and then I spread a little “cheer” .)
It's heartbreaking - and inexcusable - that any species can become extinct with the knowledge and expertise we have these days. Ee really need to wake up about what we are doing to the environment. I often wonder how different things would be if only Al Gore had taken office! 
And I think about my grandmother who was a teacher - she said that females didn't have the options that they have now when she was young. And she said that if she was starting out now that she'd choose to be an environmentalist - and that stuck with me.
Hope that you get unstuck soon!
