Talk:The Marine Mammal Center

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A fact from The Marine Mammal Center appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 29 May 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that The Marine Mammal Center has rescued over 12,000 sea otters, sea lions, dolphins and other species, but also produces important scientific discoveries regarding marine chemistry?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/May.

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Acknowledgement[edit]

the creator of this article wishes to thank Dr. Tracey Goldstein, Mr. Jim Oswald, Ms. Denise Greig and Ms. Elizabeth Morgan Held of The Marine Mammal Center for valuable input to this article and review of the draft text. Their attention to detail and responses to my endless questions is much appreciated. Anlace 20:38, 24 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Marine Mammal Center[edit]

yes, this is the full correct name of the Center, including the "The". cheers Anlace 20:38, 24 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Success Stories[edit]

Hi Anlace: I wasn't sure you would see this if I posted it on my talk page, so I put it here as well,

I read the reference you cited. You've omitted the word "presumably" (page 7) from the wikipedia article. I'm curious about whether readers of the article should take the presumption as a fact, and whether it's encyclopedic to include such a presumption. The writers of the Annual Report don't know where that particular whale went, so I'm wondering why we should trust their presumption.

As far as the migratory paths of whales being well-documented, that's a little vague. They're certainly not as well-documented as terrestrial migrations. They're also not as well-documented as grey whale migrations, which hug the coast, making them easily observable. I'd say whale migrations are poorly documented beyond grey whales, but it's six of one, half-a-dozen of the other, really.

Fundamentally, I don't think it's scientifically accurate to claim this particular whale was going to Baja California, when the evidence indicates that there are higher match rates between California humpbacks and mainland Mexico wintering sites over Baja California sites, and the rate of humpbacks wintering near Costa Rica but feeding off California has not been established.

"Migrations between winter regions and feeding areas did not follow a simple pattern, although highest match rates were found for whales that moved between Hawaii and southeastern Alaska and between mainland and Baja Mexico and California." <snip>... "Humpback whales also winter at scattered locations along the Mexican mainland south of the subareas that have been sampled (Urban and Aguayo 1987). One known wintering region not included in our sample is the coastal waters of Central America, especially Costa Rica and Panama (Steiger et al. 1991, Calambokidis et al. 2000). This is a region where humpback whales from the North Pacific mate and give birth to calves, although no photographs were available from 1991 to 1993 for this analysis. This region appears to be used by humpback whales that migrate almost exclusively from feeding areas off California, with limited evidence of interchange with whales wintering off mainland Mexico (Calambokidis et a/. 2000)."

From: Movements and population structure of humpback whales in the North Pacific.

Also check out Table 8 in the above reference. The match rate for CA-WA feeding humpbacks was 0.51 for mainland Mexico but only 0.18 for Baja.

It seems to me that a good way to word the article would be to say "probably headed for wintering grounds near Mexico" if you have to say where the whale is going at all. Wevets 17:41, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Assessing[edit]

This is not B-class yet.

This is an article about the center, not a detailed analysis about various issues that marine mammals have in the wild (that should be in the article about the mammals).
There are not nearly enough citations for B-class.
The lead is way too long. Most of this needs to be moved into the body. Don Lammers (talk) 14:58, 1 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified (January 2018)[edit]

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The Marine Mammal Center[edit]

Hello folks,

I have been an editor at Wikipedia for at least 10 years, and I've been a volunteer at The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC ) for nearly 2 years.

I am concerned about the comments on Wikipedia, which I will attach below if possible. I think it is unfairly critical of the TMMC article and is also a bad reflection upon Wikipedia. These comments were made 10 years ago in 2010.

I would like to correct them if possible to clean up this mess.

While I have edited a number of articles over the years, I have never addressed such criticisms as appear on this page. I would be happy to work with biologists/officers at TMMC. I myself am a biologist with a specialization in Marine Biology so I think I am qualified to work on this. I also have a background in journalism, with an abd from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and a number of years working as a journalist.

I would appreciate any help in learning how we can remove the jarring criticisms at the beginning of this article. And as mentioned, I would be happy to work on any research necessary to assuage any concerns that the Wikipedia community may have.

Thanks very much for any help!

Kris Wood sfbaybreezes@yahoo.com (510) 558-7302 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kristinamwood (talk • contribs) 10:00, 16 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It says that this was unsigned. So is this how I am supposed to sign it? Kristinamwood (talk) 01:55, 6 March 2020 (UTC)Kris Wood[reply]

I want to improve this article, The Marine Mammal Center[edit]

Hello,

I want to improve this topic, The Marine Mammal Center. Mostly I have done limited edits for some time, more than a decade. So I am new at doing such major changes, though I am not sure major changes are needed. However, as I discuss in an earlier post which I share below, I have been volunteering at TMMC for 2 years, and have a background in editing and journalism. I hate to see the page plagued by the below criticisms, which reflect badly on TMMC and also on Wikipedia for this 10 year criticism of such a great institution. I would appreciate any and all help I can get to do this.

Here is how that article starts out, which is so distressing!:

"This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article relies too much on references to primary sources. (November 2010) This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2010)"

I am not sure who did these comments in 2010. I have read the article and do not see obvious problems. It would be helpful if the person who made these comments 10 years ago would help in pointing out what problems they see so that I could work on them. Could anyone please help me with that? They are very general criticisms.

Here is a post I did recently, unaware of how to use this talk page properly, I fear. I am putting it here as it is relevant and may be missed in its current location:

Hello folks,

I have been an editor at Wikipedia for at least 10 years, and I've been a volunteer at The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC ) for nearly 2 years.

I am concerned about the comments on Wikipedia, which I will attach below if possible. I think it is unfairly critical of the TMMC article and is also a bad reflection upon Wikipedia. These comments were made 10 years ago in 2010.

I would like to correct them if possible to clean up this mess.

While I have edited a number of articles over the years, I have never addressed such criticisms as appear on this page. I would be happy to work with biologists/officers at TMMC. I myself am a biologist with a specialization in Marine Biology so I think I am qualified to work on this. I also have a background in journalism, with an abd from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and a number of years working as a journalist.

I would appreciate any help in learning how we can remove the jarring criticisms at the beginning of this article. And as mentioned, I would be happy to work on any research necessary to assuage any concerns that the Wikipedia community may have.

Thanks very much for any help!

Kristinamwood (talk) 02:07, 6 March 2020 (UTC) Kris Wood[reply]

Kristinamwood (talk) 02:08, 6 March 2020 (UTC) Kris Wood[reply]

After reading the talk page, it is unclear what these major criticisms refer to:

!This article relies too much on references to primary sources. (November 2010) This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2010)"

Nothing was delineated in the talk pages to explain these criticisms from 2010. Thus I am going to try and remove this critical banner that appears at the beginning of the article, as I think it is a disservice to TMMC and to Wikipedia.

If the person who made these criticisms would like to let me know what she/he is talking about, I will be happy to work on changes, including with scientists at TMMC.

If I am doing this in error, please let me know. Thanks for your time in reading this.

Kristinamwood (talk) 02:19, 6 March 2020 (UTC) Kris Wood[reply]

Editing problem re image[edit]

Hi folks,

I added a period to a middle initial in an image, and it looks like that has screwed up that image. Specifically, "Kiotari, a female, Pacific harbor seal pup, was rescued on 5/1/10 from Ross Cove at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in San Mateo. She had been separated from her mother shortly after birth. Kiotari was malnourished and suffering from flipper trauma and an umbilical infection. She was treated and released on 7/24/10 at Point Reyes Marine Reserve, having gained over 10 kg. The spot patterns on a Pacific harbor seal are unique to a particular individual. Photo by Aaron J Cohen for the Marine Mammal Center."

Let me try to go back and fix that. I hope that I can!

Kristinamwood (talk) 10:42, 6 March 2020 (UTC) kris wood[reply]

GOOD! It looks like removing the period fixed it. There should be a period there, but I don't know how to do that without messing up the image.

NEVER mind. The photographer's name without the period does not appear, just the image. I did correct his name in the caption, but that had no affect on the image.

Kristinamwood (talk) 10:45, 6 March 2020 (UTC)kris wood[reply]