Kingdom of the Blue Whale: Premieres March 9
Be sure to tune into the National Geographic Channel on March 9 for the premiere of "Kingdom of the Blue Whale." They already have some great interactive content to explore on their web site including an interactive Flash module that lets you measure the size of a blue whale as compared with school buses, Triceratops, M1A1 Abrams tanks, the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and more.

Also check out the March 2009 print issue of National Geographic Magazine for the in-depth story and some incredible photos from the field.

While whale watching in the Santa Barbara Channel in July of 2008, we came across the R/V Pacific Storm, which is a research vessel from Oregon State University and one of the home bases for their blue whale research. Here are a couple of photos I snapped of the Pacific Storm and its Zodiac boat which was out tagging blue whales. The Pacific Storm is also pictured in the March issue of National Geographic.

Seen Any Troglobites Lately?
If so, then they probably haven't seen you, considering the fact that they are eyeless. Troglobites live in caves and include various species of millipedes, spiders, worms, blind salamanders, and eyeless fish. Since they live in caves, which inherently have little, if any, sunlight, they have little need for sight and have evolved their other senses more fully.

These eyeless cave animals are known as "true troglobites," while the animals who have partial eyesight are known as "troglophiles." Troglophiles may live near the entrance of the cave, or in an area where there is partial light. The September 2007 issue of National Geographic has an interesting story about these creatures along with many interesting & mysterious photos. As with countless species of animals around the world, even these small critters face an uncertain future due to pollution, vandalism, and quarrying. (The photo in this post appeared in the National Geographic Photo Gallery about this story and was taken by David Liittschwager.)