Now we have proof. Fur seals are afraid of sharks. No, really. There’s been a three-year study. Surprised?
The research published in Ecology is “Physiological Stress Responses to Natural Variation in Predation Risk: Evidence from White Sharks and Seals.”* The authors looked at stress hormone levels in Arctocephalus pusillus (fur seal) colonies and found those levels increase “when the risk of great white shark attack” is high.**
Too much stress, as we have been told by professionals ranging from psychologists to heart specialists, isn’t good for humans (Homo sapiens sapiens), and apparently, it’s not so good for other animals, including fur seals. Not that we need to be told about something we have personally experienced or witnessed in others.
The authors of the article point out that such shark-induced stress is ecologically harmful and that it can lead to a reduction of the fur seal population. Maybe so. Nevertheless, learning the obvious seems to be a waste of time. What, for example, can the researchers do to eliminate stress in fur seals except to eliminate the sharks. No sharks, no shark-induced stress. Happy fur seals frolicking in the sea, but eating other animals who fear them.
Is it a bit ironic that in sometimes assessing causes of stress, we use a sliding scale of measurement? Is there any stress in walleye Pollock, squids, salmon, Pacific sandlance, northern smoothtongue, and Pacific herring in the Bering Sea, and those same fishes plus capelin, Pacific whiting, Pacific saury, and rockfishes in the northern Pacific? Especially at night when fur seals prefer to hunt.***
There’s a chain of stress in natural habitats, and there’s another one in artificial ones. There will never be a stress-free ecology, nor will there ever be a stress-free human environment. Risk and conflict occur, and when any animal realizes either instinctively or consciously that both can occur unexpectedly, stress hormones flow.
Most likely, the concerned researchers of the study don’t have a mechanism that fur seal might use during the seasons when white sharks seek them for food. And that’s when we see whether studying the obvious bears any practical fruit. But with humans?
According to HealthPrep online stress “may lead to chronic inflammation, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and obesity.”*** So, that website and others offer ways to relieve stress—all probably good advice.
But I think I can reduce lists of ten steps, or five steps, or you-name-the-number of stress relief mechanisms to one: If you are a fur seal, don’t swim in shark-infested waters, if you are a fish, don’t swim in fur seal-infested waters, and if you are a human don’t live in human-infested environments. Otherwise, learn to live in a risky and stressful world.
*Hammerschlag, Neil, et al., Ecology. December 1, 2017, DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2049
**Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Stress Test: New Study Finds Seals Are Stressed-out by Sharks. December 5, 2017. Online at http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/news-events/press-releases/2017/stress-test-new-study-finds-seals-are-stressed-out-by-sharks/
***North Pacific Universities Marine Mammal Research Consortium. Northern Fur Seal Biology Diet. Online at http://www.marinemammal.org/biology/northern-fur-seal/diet/
****Stress and the 10 Truths behind the Damage It Causes online at http://healthprep.com/living-healthy/stress-and-the-10-truths-behind-the-damage-it-causes/?utm_source=bing-search&utm_medium=referral&utm_term=dealing%20with%20stress&utm_content={creative}&utm_campaign=(HP-DTM-US-DSP-RT)-Stress-And-The-10-Truths-Behind-The-Damage-It-Causes
The research published in Ecology is “Physiological Stress Responses to Natural Variation in Predation Risk: Evidence from White Sharks and Seals.”* The authors looked at stress hormone levels in Arctocephalus pusillus (fur seal) colonies and found those levels increase “when the risk of great white shark attack” is high.**
Too much stress, as we have been told by professionals ranging from psychologists to heart specialists, isn’t good for humans (Homo sapiens sapiens), and apparently, it’s not so good for other animals, including fur seals. Not that we need to be told about something we have personally experienced or witnessed in others.
The authors of the article point out that such shark-induced stress is ecologically harmful and that it can lead to a reduction of the fur seal population. Maybe so. Nevertheless, learning the obvious seems to be a waste of time. What, for example, can the researchers do to eliminate stress in fur seals except to eliminate the sharks. No sharks, no shark-induced stress. Happy fur seals frolicking in the sea, but eating other animals who fear them.
Is it a bit ironic that in sometimes assessing causes of stress, we use a sliding scale of measurement? Is there any stress in walleye Pollock, squids, salmon, Pacific sandlance, northern smoothtongue, and Pacific herring in the Bering Sea, and those same fishes plus capelin, Pacific whiting, Pacific saury, and rockfishes in the northern Pacific? Especially at night when fur seals prefer to hunt.***
There’s a chain of stress in natural habitats, and there’s another one in artificial ones. There will never be a stress-free ecology, nor will there ever be a stress-free human environment. Risk and conflict occur, and when any animal realizes either instinctively or consciously that both can occur unexpectedly, stress hormones flow.
Most likely, the concerned researchers of the study don’t have a mechanism that fur seal might use during the seasons when white sharks seek them for food. And that’s when we see whether studying the obvious bears any practical fruit. But with humans?
According to HealthPrep online stress “may lead to chronic inflammation, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and obesity.”*** So, that website and others offer ways to relieve stress—all probably good advice.
But I think I can reduce lists of ten steps, or five steps, or you-name-the-number of stress relief mechanisms to one: If you are a fur seal, don’t swim in shark-infested waters, if you are a fish, don’t swim in fur seal-infested waters, and if you are a human don’t live in human-infested environments. Otherwise, learn to live in a risky and stressful world.
*Hammerschlag, Neil, et al., Ecology. December 1, 2017, DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2049
**Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Stress Test: New Study Finds Seals Are Stressed-out by Sharks. December 5, 2017. Online at http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/news-events/press-releases/2017/stress-test-new-study-finds-seals-are-stressed-out-by-sharks/
***North Pacific Universities Marine Mammal Research Consortium. Northern Fur Seal Biology Diet. Online at http://www.marinemammal.org/biology/northern-fur-seal/diet/
****Stress and the 10 Truths behind the Damage It Causes online at http://healthprep.com/living-healthy/stress-and-the-10-truths-behind-the-damage-it-causes/?utm_source=bing-search&utm_medium=referral&utm_term=dealing%20with%20stress&utm_content={creative}&utm_campaign=(HP-DTM-US-DSP-RT)-Stress-And-The-10-Truths-Behind-The-Damage-It-Causes
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