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"It is dangerous to be discovered. Twenty-seven years. Who else could only tolerate twenty-seven years among western humans? Jimi Hendrix, Jean-Michel Basquiat, even Amy Winehouse, and Kurt Cobain. Twenty-seven years is such a short time. How do we mourn and survive the violence of being known?"

When I was a kid I listened to a lot of rock and metal so the 27 club was something I had to learn about since many of the artists I listened to were a part of it.

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From Robert Johnson to Anton Yelchin, 20 stars who died at 27

The 27 Club has become one of the most elusive and remarkably tragic coincidences in rock & roll history. The term became widely known after Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, with rock fans connecting his age to that of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix - though it was notable to fans in the early 1970s when those four visionaries died within just two years of each other. When Amy Winehouse passed away at age 27 in 2011, it attracted even more attention to the significance of the age. While the club has been largely connected to musicians, it has expanded since, as many young actors and artists have lost their lives due to everything from addiction to suicide to freak accidents. Here are some of the unfortunate and untimely losses connected to the club.

Robert Johnson

One of the Delta blues' most celebrated and singular talents, Robert Johnson recorded chilling, folkloric songs about hellhounds, the Devil and general despair amid swinging, dissonant, sometimes off-kilter guitar lines - the likes of which have reverberated through rock & roll for decades. He recorded less than 50 songs - including ones later covered by Cream ("Cross Road Blues"), Captain Beefheart ("Terraplane Blues") and the Rolling Stones ("Love in Vain," "Stop Breaking Down") - and performed alongside the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James and Memphis Slim as he rose to fame. "You want to know how good the blues can get?" Keith Richards once said. "Well, this is it." In August 1938, just a few months after his 27th birthday, Johnson made moves on the wife of the owner of a roadhouse where he was playing, drank from an open bottle of whiskey he was offered, and died three days later of strychnine poisoning and pneumonia. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Mississippi.

Brian Jones

Jones' death at his country home in England in 1969 seems to be the result of his foolish behavior. To mix alcohol and drugs and then dive into the swimming pool was to swim directly into the arms of death. As clear as this seems, the death of Brian Jones has become one of the most persistent mysteries of rock & roll, with many people questioning the official version of what happened. Even members of the Rolling Stones have expressed doubts. "And still the mystery of his death hasn't been solved," Keith Richards has said. "I don't know what happened, but there was some nasty business going on."

Alan Wilson

Canned Heat enjoyed considerable artistic and commercial success, crowned by an appearance at Woodstock in 1969. But guitarist Al "Blind Owl" Wilson was a troubled man. Like many in the 27 Club, he was estranged from his family; he lacked confidence and suffered from depression. One of his eccentric habits was sleeping outdoors, as he did at vocalist Bob Hite's house in Los Angeles on the last night of his life. Wilson's body was found in Hite's yard on September 3rd, 1970. His hands were crossed over his chest and there was a bottle of the barbiturate Seconal by his side. Cause of death was officially given as an accidental overdose of barbiturates, but drummer Fito de la Parra has said he believes Wilson committed suicide.

Jimi Hendrix

In the early hours of Friday, September 18th, 1970, while staying with a girlfriend in London, Jimi took some sleeping pills. Nobody knows for sure how many pills he swallowed, or whether he understood what he was taking. The drug was Vesparax, a strong barbiturate. Half a tablet was enough to put a man to sleep for eight hours - Jimi may have swallowed as many as nine. He had also been drinking. This was foolish and reckless but it was in character. During his years on the road Jimi had got into the habit of using drugs indiscriminately. "Jimi would take a handful of shit, not even knowing what it was," his friend Deering Howe has said.

Janis Joplin

It is certainly easy to imagine Janis feeling lonely as she returned to her hotel room in Hollywood after her last recording session. As she sang in "A Woman Left Lonely," one of the last songs she sang, she knew that her boyfriend was taking her for granted. At around one a.m. on October 4th, 1970, she got her heroin kit out and injected a vein in her left arm. Then she went to the cigarette machine in the hotel lobby, returning to her room with a pack. She closed the door, started to undress and reached to put her packet on the nightstand. As she did so she keeled over, hitting her face on the table as she fell to the floor, where she was found dead the next day.

Jim Morrison

The cult of Jim Morrison grew posthumously, taking off in 1979 when Francis Ford Coppola used " The End" in the soundtrack for Apocalypse Now. Part of the cult of Jim was the coincidence of him dying at the same age as Brian, Jimi and Janis. The 27 link helped reinforce the idea that Jim had been special; that his death was fated; that there was something weird going on. The fact that Jim's girlfriend had died at the same age underlined the weirdness of the coincidence. This legend was familiar to everybody with an interest in popular music by 1994 when Kurt Cobain decided to join the club.

Ronald McKernan

Ron "Pigpen" McKernan was a sensitive, somewhat unsightly character with a drinking problem. He got together with Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir in 1964 to form a jug band that developed into the Grateful Dead. Pigpen started drinking when he was twelve and, by his mid-twenties, had cirrhosis of the liver, ulcers and other health problems. Pigpen was on his own at his apartment in Corte Madera, overlooking San Francisco Bay, when the end came on March 8th, 1973. He had been dead for up to two days when his landlady found him.

Dave Alexander

The Stooges' founding bassist Dave "Zander" Alexander had the reputation of being a loose cannon before the group even came together: He dropped out of high school 45 minutes into his senior year to win a bet, and he and Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton once traveled to England with hopes of running into the Beatles. He also contributed several outside-the-box ideas to the group, such as the Indian-inspired "We Will Fall" on their debut and clanging "Dirt" rave-up on 1970's Fun House . But when Alexander took too many downers before a festival appearance and couldn't play, a few days before Fun House came out, frontman Iggy Pop fired him. He'd spend the rest of his life battling addictions and health issues, according to the book The 27s . He began drinking so much that he developed pancreatitis and, after going to a hospital where his lungs filled with fluid, died of pulmonary edema in February 1975. "He was the catalyst for so much of the Stooges," Ron once said. "He was so ahead of his time."

Pete Ham

After Kurt Cobain, the most notable confirmed suicide is Peter Ham of Badfinger, one of the bands the Beatles signed to their Apple label in the 1960s. As is the case with suicides, Ham reached a point where death seemed to be the only solution to his problems. He met bandmate Tom Evans in a pub near his home in England on the evening of April 24th, 1975, three days before his 28th birthday, and told him: "Don't worry, I know a way out." Fortified with drink, Ham went back to his home, wrote a note in which he expressed his bitterness towards his manager and hanged himself in his garage. Evans hanged himself seven years later.

Chris Bell

Chris Bell's career was as tragic as his demise. The talented musician (left) was the driving force behind power pop heroes Big Star, co-writing much of #1 Record with singer Alex Chilton and playing the guitar. Upon release, however - even though critics praised the music and especially Chilton, who had fronted the popular Box Tops as a teenager - the album flopped. In the six years following its release, Bell quit Big Star, slinked lower into his clinical depression and drug addiction and later had to work at his family's restaurant after more failed attempts to re-launch his career. In December 1978, Bell crashed his Triumph TR-7 sports car into a pole while he drove home from band rehearsal, killing him instantly. Much of his solo work was released posthumously, reminding many of his significance in crafting Big Star's sound.

D. Boon

With the Minutemen, singer-guitarist D. Boon (left) helped expand punk and hardcore's vernaculars to include funk, jazz and improv while playing faster than a locomotive. And along with labelmates Black Flag, the Southern California foursome helped define the scene's D.I.Y. ethos in the Eighties. They put out four full-lengths - including the monumental double-LP Double Nickels on the Dime - as well as several singles and EPs throughout the early Eighties. They attracted some famous fans along the way, notably Michael Stipe who invited them to open for R.E.M on a three-week North American tour. A few days after they returned from the tour in December 1985, Boon grew ill with a fever. He nevertheless chose to visit his girlfriend's parents in Arizona for the holidays and decided to lie down in the back of the band's van so he could rest as she drove. On the way, she fell asleep at the wheel and, as the van flipped, the frontman flew out its back door, broke his neck and died. "That was the worst," bandmate Mike Watt said in the book Our Band Could Be Your Life. "No more of him. No more Minutemen.... I miss him."

Jean-Michel Basquiat

The year Jean-Michel Basquiat turned 20, he became an art-world celebrity on the path to a pop-culture turning point. After dropping out of high school, the self-taught, Brooklyn-born, neo-expressionist artist spent the late Seventies painting graffiti around SoHo, tagged "SAMO," and in 1980, he allowed his paintings - which featured colorful, jagged renditions of people often juxtaposed with words - to be featured in a group show. In the years that followed, he collaborated with Andy Warhol on a series of paintings, dated Madonna, appeared in Blondie's "Rapture" video and cultivated the myth of the temperamental artist, destroying some paintings and pouring dried fruit and nuts on the head of an art dealer. Along the way, he developed a serious drug problem. In the months leading up to his death in 1988 of "acute mixed drug intoxication" - namely opioids and cocaine - he claimed to be shooting a hundred bags of heroin a day. He's since become one of the most celebrated artists of the past three decades, having been the subject of a biopic and uncountable references in Jay Z songs.

Mia Zapata

As the lead singer of the Gits, Mia Zapata was a punk force and the foremost female voice in Seattle's burgeoning, male-dominated grunge scene. The band's debut album Frenching the Bully made them local favorites, but as they prepared their sophomore release, Zapata was brutally beaten, raped and strangled to death in July of 1993. Grunge luminaries like Nirvana and Pearl Jam helped raise thousands of dollars to hire a private investigator to look for her murderer, who was not found and convicted until 2003. In the aftermath, her friends launched Home Alive, a self-defense organization, and hosted a series of benefit concerts and released compilations featuring an assortment of Seattle-based bands. Zapata's friends in 7 Year Bitch paid tribute to her with their 1994 album ¡Viva Zapata! while Joan Jett would go on to tour with the Gits under the name Evil Stig (which is Gits Live backwards) to benefit the investigation for her murderer as well as pay tribute to their friend.

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain's body was discovered by an electrician on Friday, April 8th, 1994. The answer to the question posed by the authors of Who Killed Kurt Cobain? is simple: Kurt Cobain killed himself. He did so with sudden, self-inflicted violence, leaving written evidence of his state of mind. Kurt's substance abuse counselor remembered how worried the musician had been about losing his home in a lawsuit: "Suicidal people tend to want to make a statement," Nial Stimson said. "I just kind of felt he killed himself in his house [as if to say], "You're not going to take my house, no matter what. . .'"

Kristen Pfaff

One of the mourners at Kurt's Seattle memorial was Kristen Pfaff, a member of Courtney Love's band, Hole, and a former girlfriend of fellow member Eric Erlandson. Two months after Kurt's death, in 1994, Pfaff died of a heroin overdose in the bath at her Seattle apartment, just like Jim Morrison. She was also 27, the third member of the Seattle music community to die at that age within a year.

Randy "Stretch" Walker

At the height of his popularity, Tupac Shakur's power was such that a person could become famous simply by existing in his direct vicinity. That may be how Randy "Stretch" Walker rose to prominence, but he possessed far too much raw talent to be written off as another hanger-on. A skilled producer and strong rapper in his own right, Stretch was a regular guest on Pac's studio records after a run with his own group, Live Squad. Whether behind the boards or on the mic, Stretch exuded the original-gangsta authenticity that sold records during the '90s. That same realness eventually made him the target of a November 1995 assassination in Queens - less than a year before Tupac himself would be fatally shot. Now, they're both clinking glasses of O.E. in the kingdom.

Jeremy Michael Ward

When Jeremy Michael Ward was found dead of a heroin overdose in his L.A. home in May 2003, it was less than a month before the debut album of his band, the Mars Volta, was set to be released. Despite De-Loused at the Comatorium being the band's first LP, it was one of the most hotly anticipated records of the year: At the Drive-In founding members Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala had disbanded the El Paso post-hardcore outfit in 2001, just as they were cresting into mainstream fame, abandoning their place as the next Rage Against the Machine in favor of weirder pastures. They teamed up with childhood friend and longtime collaborator Ward, who, as the band's "sound manipulator," was able to realize their left-field ideas. De-Loused was a Rick-Rubin produced prog-punk opera set in the mind of a drug-induced coma patient, which semi-factually told the story of their friend Julio Venegas, an artist who had leapt to his death off a Texas freeway overpass in 1996. But despite Ward's rambunctious demeanor and avant-garde talent, when performing with the band, he sat off stage, manipulating the music with an elaborate pedal setup and a Korg Kaoss pad. After his death, the band continued to release albums, though none would equal the success of the first.

Jonathan Brandis

Jonathan Brandis' 2003 suicide is a dark reflection of the too-frequent downfall of former child stars. Brandis began acting at age six, holding down bit parts in soap operas and sitcoms before graduating to films like Stephen King's It. But it wasn't until 1993, at the age of 17, when he got his big break in the popular series SeaQuest DSV . He became an instant heartthrob, receiving thousands of fan letters and causing levels of public pandemonium that neared Beatlemania. But the show was cancelled in 1996, and Brandis struggled to maintain his fame and career. In 2002, he was set to appear in Hart's War starring Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell - a film he saw as his opportunity for a comeback - but all of his scenes were cut. A year later, he hanged himself in his Los Angeles apartment and later died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

Amy Winehouse

What Amy's state of mind was when she took her last gulps of vodka at home in London in July 2011 is impossible to know. She had said there were things she still wanted to do with her life, but she seemed unable to take action. Despite being a remarkably honest and open person in many respects, she had always been cagey about her inner life. Observing Amy as we have, there is a strong sense that she was sick of her career. Like Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, she had become a prisoner of her image. And, as with Janis Joplin, her man was glaringly absent at the end. So were other people Amy had depended upon and, in many cases, exhausted.

Anton Yelchin

Anton Yelchin did a lot of work in his 27 years - from 2011 to 2015 alone, he appeared in 18 films, not including various voiceover gigs - and yet not nearly enough. A sensitive actor with a penchant for visionary auteurs such as Jim Jarmusch, Drake Doremus, and Jeremy Saulnier, his best years had barely begun when he died in a freak accident, pinned against a brick pillar by his own car. But he leaves behind a versatile, stellar filmography jumping from blockbusters (he made for an excitable Chekov in the Star Trek reboots) to horror homage (he was the spine of 2011's Fright Night remake) to small-scale romance (he courted Felicity Jones in Like Crazy ). There's no telling what he could've done, but now, all we can do is be grateful for what we've got.

Entries 2-7, 9, 14, 15 and 19 adapted from 27: A History of the 27 Club through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse by Howard Sounes. Reprinted courtesy of Da Capo Press.

Robert Johnson

One of the Delta blues' most celebrated and singular talents, Robert Johnson recorded chilling, folkloric songs about hellhounds, the Devil and general despair amid swinging, dissonant, sometimes off-kilter guitar lines - the likes of which have reverberated through rock & roll for decades. He recorded less than 50 songs - including ones later covered by Cream ("Cross Road Blues"), Captain Beefheart ("Terraplane Blues") and the Rolling Stones ("Love in Vain," "Stop Breaking Down") - and performed alongside the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James and Memphis Slim as he rose to fame. "You want to know how good the blues can get?" Keith Richards once said. "Well, this is it." In August 1938, just a few months after his 27th birthday, Johnson made moves on the wife of the owner of a roadhouse where he was playing, drank from an open bottle of whiskey he was offered, and died three days later of strychnine poisoning and pneumonia. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Mississippi.

Brian Jones

Jones' death at his country home in England in 1969 seems to be the result of his foolish behavior. To mix alcohol and drugs and then dive into the swimming pool was to swim directly into the arms of death. As clear as this seems, the death of Brian Jones has become one of the most persistent mysteries of rock & roll, with many people questioning the official version of what happened. Even members of the Rolling Stones have expressed doubts. "And still the mystery of his death hasn't been solved," Keith Richards has said. "I don't know what happened, but there was some nasty business going on."

Alan Wilson

Canned Heat enjoyed considerable artistic and commercial success, crowned by an appearance at Woodstock in 1969. But guitarist Al "Blind Owl" Wilson was a troubled man. Like many in the 27 Club, he was estranged from his family; he lacked confidence and suffered from depression. One of his eccentric habits was sleeping outdoors, as he did at vocalist Bob Hite's house in Los Angeles on the last night of his life. Wilson's body was found in Hite's yard on September 3rd, 1970. His hands were crossed over his chest and there was a bottle of the barbiturate Seconal by his side. Cause of death was officially given as an accidental overdose of barbiturates, but drummer Fito de la Parra has said he believes Wilson committed suicide.

Jimi Hendrix

In the early hours of Friday, September 18th, 1970, while staying with a girlfriend in London, Jimi took some sleeping pills. Nobody knows for sure how many pills he swallowed, or whether he understood what he was taking. The drug was Vesparax, a strong barbiturate. Half a tablet was enough to put a man to sleep for eight hours - Jimi may have swallowed as many as nine. He had also been drinking. This was foolish and reckless but it was in character. During his years on the road Jimi had got into the habit of using drugs indiscriminately. "Jimi would take a handful of shit, not even knowing what it was," his friend Deering Howe has said.

Janis Joplin

It is certainly easy to imagine Janis feeling lonely as she returned to her hotel room in Hollywood after her last recording session. As she sang in "A Woman Left Lonely," one of the last songs she sang, she knew that her boyfriend was taking her for granted. At around one a.m. on October 4th, 1970, she got her heroin kit out and injected a vein in her left arm. Then she went to the cigarette machine in the hotel lobby, returning to her room with a pack. She closed the door, started to undress and reached to put her packet on the nightstand. As she did so she keeled over, hitting her face on the table as she fell to the floor, where she was found dead the next day.

Jim Morrison

The cult of Jim Morrison grew posthumously, taking off in 1979 when Francis Ford Coppola used " The End" in the soundtrack for Apocalypse Now. Part of the cult of Jim was the coincidence of him dying at the same age as Brian, Jimi and Janis. The 27 link helped reinforce the idea that Jim had been special; that his death was fated; that there was something weird going on. The fact that Jim's girlfriend had died at the same age underlined the weirdness of the coincidence. This legend was familiar to everybody with an interest in popular music by 1994 when Kurt Cobain decided to join the club.

Ronald McKernan

Ron "Pigpen" McKernan was a sensitive, somewhat unsightly character with a drinking problem. He got together with Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir in 1964 to form a jug band that developed into the Grateful Dead. Pigpen started drinking when he was twelve and, by his mid-twenties, had cirrhosis of the liver, ulcers and other health problems. Pigpen was on his own at his apartment in Corte Madera, overlooking San Francisco Bay, when the end came on March 8th, 1973. He had been dead for up to two days when his landlady found him.

Dave Alexander

The Stooges' founding bassist Dave "Zander" Alexander had the reputation of being a loose cannon before the group even came together: He dropped out of high school 45 minutes into his senior year to win a bet, and he and Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton once traveled to England with hopes of running into the Beatles. He also contributed several outside-the-box ideas to the group, such as the Indian-inspired "We Will Fall" on their debut and clanging "Dirt" rave-up on 1970's Fun House . But when Alexander took too many downers before a festival appearance and couldn't play, a few days before Fun House came out, frontman Iggy Pop fired him. He'd spend the rest of his life battling addictions and health issues, according to the book The 27s . He began drinking so much that he developed pancreatitis and, after going to a hospital where his lungs filled with fluid, died of pulmonary edema in February 1975. "He was the catalyst for so much of the Stooges," Ron once said. "He was so ahead of his time."

Pete Ham

After Kurt Cobain, the most notable confirmed suicide is Peter Ham of Badfinger, one of the bands the Beatles signed to their Apple label in the 1960s. As is the case with suicides, Ham reached a point where death seemed to be the only solution to his problems. He met bandmate Tom Evans in a pub near his home in England on the evening of April 24th, 1975, three days before his 28th birthday, and told him: "Don't worry, I know a way out." Fortified with drink, Ham went back to his home, wrote a note in which he expressed his bitterness towards his manager and hanged himself in his garage. Evans hanged himself seven years later.

Chris Bell

Chris Bell's career was as tragic as his demise. The talented musician (left) was the driving force behind power pop heroes Big Star, co-writing much of #1 Record with singer Alex Chilton and playing the guitar. Upon release, however - even though critics praised the music and especially Chilton, who had fronted the popular Box Tops as a teenager - the album flopped. In the six years following its release, Bell quit Big Star, slinked lower into his clinical depression and drug addiction and later had to work at his family's restaurant after more failed attempts to re-launch his career. In December 1978, Bell crashed his Triumph TR-7 sports car into a pole while he drove home from band rehearsal, killing him instantly. Much of his solo work was released posthumously, reminding many of his significance in crafting Big Star's sound.

D. Boon

With the Minutemen, singer-guitarist D. Boon (left) helped expand punk and hardcore's vernaculars to include funk, jazz and improv while playing faster than a locomotive. And along with labelmates Black Flag, the Southern California foursome helped define the scene's D.I.Y. ethos in the Eighties. They put out four full-lengths - including the monumental double-LP Double Nickels on the Dime - as well as several singles and EPs throughout the early Eighties. They attracted some famous fans along the way, notably Michael Stipe who invited them to open for R.E.M on a three-week North American tour. A few days after they returned from the tour in December 1985, Boon grew ill with a fever. He nevertheless chose to visit his girlfriend's parents in Arizona for the holidays and decided to lie down in the back of the band's van so he could rest as she drove. On the way, she fell asleep at the wheel and, as the van flipped, the frontman flew out its back door, broke his neck and died. "That was the worst," bandmate Mike Watt said in the book Our Band Could Be Your Life. "No more of him. No more Minutemen.... I miss him."

Jean-Michel Basquiat

The year Jean-Michel Basquiat turned 20, he became an art-world celebrity on the path to a pop-culture turning point. After dropping out of high school, the self-taught, Brooklyn-born, neo-expressionist artist spent the late Seventies painting graffiti around SoHo, tagged "SAMO," and in 1980, he allowed his paintings - which featured colorful, jagged renditions of people often juxtaposed with words - to be featured in a group show. In the years that followed, he collaborated with Andy Warhol on a series of paintings, dated Madonna, appeared in Blondie's "Rapture" video and cultivated the myth of the temperamental artist, destroying some paintings and pouring dried fruit and nuts on the head of an art dealer. Along the way, he developed a serious drug problem. In the months leading up to his death in 1988 of "acute mixed drug intoxication" - namely opioids and cocaine - he claimed to be shooting a hundred bags of heroin a day. He's since become one of the most celebrated artists of the past three decades, having been the subject of a biopic and uncountable references in Jay Z songs.

Mia Zapata

As the lead singer of the Gits, Mia Zapata was a punk force and the foremost female voice in Seattle's burgeoning, male-dominated grunge scene. The band's debut album Frenching the Bully made them local favorites, but as they prepared their sophomore release, Zapata was brutally beaten, raped and strangled to death in July of 1993. Grunge luminaries like Nirvana and Pearl Jam helped raise thousands of dollars to hire a private investigator to look for her murderer, who was not found and convicted until 2003. In the aftermath, her friends launched Home Alive, a self-defense organization, and hosted a series of benefit concerts and released compilations featuring an assortment of Seattle-based bands. Zapata's friends in 7 Year Bitch paid tribute to her with their 1994 album ¡Viva Zapata! while Joan Jett would go on to tour with the Gits under the name Evil Stig (which is Gits Live backwards) to benefit the investigation for her murderer as well as pay tribute to their friend.

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain's body was discovered by an electrician on Friday, April 8th, 1994. The answer to the question posed by the authors of Who Killed Kurt Cobain? is simple: Kurt Cobain killed himself. He did so with sudden, self-inflicted violence, leaving written evidence of his state of mind. Kurt's substance abuse counselor remembered how worried the musician had been about losing his home in a lawsuit: "Suicidal people tend to want to make a statement," Nial Stimson said. "I just kind of felt he killed himself in his house [as if to say], "You're not going to take my house, no matter what. . .'"

Kristen Pfaff

One of the mourners at Kurt's Seattle memorial was Kristen Pfaff, a member of Courtney Love's band, Hole, and a former girlfriend of fellow member Eric Erlandson. Two months after Kurt's death, in 1994, Pfaff died of a heroin overdose in the bath at her Seattle apartment, just like Jim Morrison. She was also 27, the third member of the Seattle music community to die at that age within a year.

Randy "Stretch" Walker

At the height of his popularity, Tupac Shakur's power was such that a person could become famous simply by existing in his direct vicinity. That may be how Randy "Stretch" Walker rose to prominence, but he possessed far too much raw talent to be written off as another hanger-on. A skilled producer and strong rapper in his own right, Stretch was a regular guest on Pac's studio records after a run with his own group, Live Squad. Whether behind the boards or on the mic, Stretch exuded the original-gangsta authenticity that sold records during the '90s. That same realness eventually made him the target of a November 1995 assassination in Queens - less than a year before Tupac himself would be fatally shot. Now, they're both clinking glasses of O.E. in the kingdom.

Jeremy Michael Ward

When Jeremy Michael Ward was found dead of a heroin overdose in his L.A. home in May 2003, it was less than a month before the debut album of his band, the Mars Volta, was set to be released. Despite De-Loused at the Comatorium being the band's first LP, it was one of the most hotly anticipated records of the year: At the Drive-In founding members Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala had disbanded the El Paso post-hardcore outfit in 2001, just as they were cresting into mainstream fame, abandoning their place as the next Rage Against the Machine in favor of weirder pastures. They teamed up with childhood friend and longtime collaborator Ward, who, as the band's "sound manipulator," was able to realize their left-field ideas. De-Loused was a Rick-Rubin produced prog-punk opera set in the mind of a drug-induced coma patient, which semi-factually told the story of their friend Julio Venegas, an artist who had leapt to his death off a Texas freeway overpass in 1996. But despite Ward's rambunctious demeanor and avant-garde talent, when performing with the band, he sat off stage, manipulating the music with an elaborate pedal setup and a Korg Kaoss pad. After his death, the band continued to release albums, though none would equal the success of the first.

Jonathan Brandis

Jonathan Brandis' 2003 suicide is a dark reflection of the too-frequent downfall of former child stars. Brandis began acting at age six, holding down bit parts in soap operas and sitcoms before graduating to films like Stephen King's It. But it wasn't until 1993, at the age of 17, when he got his big break in the popular series SeaQuest DSV . He became an instant heartthrob, receiving thousands of fan letters and causing levels of public pandemonium that neared Beatlemania. But the show was cancelled in 1996, and Brandis struggled to maintain his fame and career. In 2002, he was set to appear in Hart's War starring Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell - a film he saw as his opportunity for a comeback - but all of his scenes were cut. A year later, he hanged himself in his Los Angeles apartment and later died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

Amy Winehouse

What Amy's state of mind was when she took her last gulps of vodka at home in London in July 2011 is impossible to know. She had said there were things she still wanted to do with her life, but she seemed unable to take action. Despite being a remarkably honest and open person in many respects, she had always been cagey about her inner life. Observing Amy as we have, there is a strong sense that she was sick of her career. Like Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, she had become a prisoner of her image. And, as with Janis Joplin, her man was glaringly absent at the end. So were other people Amy had depended upon and, in many cases, exhausted.

Anton Yelchin

Anton Yelchin did a lot of work in his 27 years - from 2011 to 2015 alone, he appeared in 18 films, not including various voiceover gigs - and yet not nearly enough. A sensitive actor with a penchant for visionary auteurs such as Jim Jarmusch, Drake Doremus, and Jeremy Saulnier, his best years had barely begun when he died in a freak accident, pinned against a brick pillar by his own car. But he leaves behind a versatile, stellar filmography jumping from blockbusters (he made for an excitable Chekov in the Star Trek reboots) to horror homage (he was the spine of 2011's Fright Night remake) to small-scale romance (he courted Felicity Jones in Like Crazy ). There's no telling what he could've done, but now, all we can do is be grateful for what we've got.

Entries 2-7, 9, 14, 15 and 19 adapted from 27: A History of the 27 Club through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse by Howard Sounes. Reprinted courtesy of Da Capo Press.

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From Robert Johnson to Anton Yeltsin, 20 members of the 27 Club, stars who passed away at 27.

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I feel like the movie JAWS made people more afraid of sharks.

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Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of their normal diets. Sharks are opportunistic feeders, but most sharks primarily feed on smaller fish and invertebrates. Some of the larger shark species prey on seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.

Sharks have been known to attack humans when they are confused or curious. If a shark sees a human splashing in the water, it may try to investigate, leading to an accidental attack. Still, sharks have more to fear from humans than we do of them. Humans hunt sharks for their meat, internal organs, skin, and fins in order to make products such as shark fin soup, lubricants, and leather.

Sharks are a valuable part of marine ecosystems, but overfishing threatens some shark populations. NOAA Fisheries conducts research on shark habitats, migratory patterns, and population change in order to understand how to best protect and maintain a stable shark population.

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national oceanic and atmospheric administration

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Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of their normal diets. Sharks primarily feed on smaller fish but some species prey upon seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.

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Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of their normal diets. Sharks primarily feed on smaller fish but some species prey upon seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.

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"Have you heard about Clymene? A popular name in Greek mythology (and the hair weave and wig marketplace, apparently), Clymene is also the name of the dolphin at the forefront of the minds of marine biologists studying hybridity. Who is she? A dolphin who escaped the record, only identified as a species in 1981. Mistranscribed when Europeans first identified her in the 1800s and then dismissed as a false identification. What is her range? The shape and trajectory of the transatlantic slave trade, West Africa to the Caribbean and North and South America. Height? About the height of a stolen person. Weight? About the weight of a stolen person."

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What We Do

Conservation & Management

NOAA Fisheries is committed to protecting Clymene dolphins. Targeted management actions taken to secure protections for these dolphins include:

Overseeing marine mammal health and stranding response

Addressing ocean noise

Educating the public about Clymene dolphins and the threats they face

Learn more about our conservation efforts

Science

Our research projects have discovered new aspects of Clymene dolphin biology, behavior, and ecology and helped us better understand the challenges that all Clymene dolphins face. Our work includes:

Stock assessments

Monitoring population abundance and distribution

Learn more about our research

-

Outreach & Education

This sign is often posted near boat ramps, piers, docks, marinas, and waterfront parks.

This sign is often posted near boat ramps, piers, docks, marinas, and waterfront parks.

This sign is often posted near boat ramps, piers, docks, marinas, and waterfront parks.

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Clymene dolphins are found in the deep, tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. They are the smallest dolphin in the genus Stenella, which also includes spinner dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins, and striped dolphins. Clymene dolphins are also known as "short-snouted spinner dolphins" because they often spin while jumping out of the water.

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"In September 2019, along with some folks with endometriosis or who walk with canes or who live with other chronic shapes of tilt and pain, sometimes as a result of trauma, I kayaked for a week. Not straight, but well. And I thought about how between each vertebra there is a story pinched and breathing. And I felt how far I really have to grow."

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Overview

What is endometriosis? A Mayo Clinic expert explains

Learn more about endometriosis from Megan Wasson, D.O., a minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon at Mayo Clinic.

Hi, I'm Dr. Megan Wasson, a minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon at Mayo Clinic. In this video, we will cover the basics of endometriosis, including what is it, who gets it, as well as the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. Whether you are looking for answers for yourself or someone you love, we are here to give you the best information available. Endometriosis is a condition in which cells similar to the lining of the uterus, or endometrium, grow outside the uterus. Endometriosis often involves the pelvic tissue and can envelop the ovaries and fallopian tubes. It can affect nearby organs, including the bowel and bladder. So during the menstrual cycle, or period, this tissue responds to hormones, and due to its location, frequently results in pain. Endometriosis causes surrounding tissues to become irritated and potentially develop scars and sticky fibers that bind tissues together. In some cases, endometriosis can cause cysts on the ovaries. These are called endometriomas. Fortunately, there are effective treatments to manage and treat endometriosis.

Who gets it?

There are some possible explanations of what sparks the endometrial-like tissue to grow out of place. But the exact cause is still uncertain. However, there are some factors that make someone more likely to get endometriosis, such as never giving birth, menstrual cycles occurring more frequently than every 28 days, heavy and prolonged menstrual periods that lasts longer than seven days, having higher levels of estrogen in your body, having a low body mass index, having a structural issue with the vagina, cervix, or uterus that prevents the passage of menstrual blood from the body, a family history of endometriosis, starting your period at an early age, or starting menopause at an older age.

What are the symptoms?

The most common symptom of endometriosis is pelvic pain, either during or outside of the normal menstrual period that is beyond normal cramping, Normal menstrual cramping should be tolerable and should not require someone to miss time from school, work or normal activities. Other symptoms include cramps that begin before and extend after a menstrual period, lower back or abdominal pain, pain with intercourse, pain with bowel movements or urination, and infertility. Individuals with endometriosis may experience fatigue, constipation, bloating, or nausea, especially during periods. If you are feeling these symptoms, it's a good idea to talk to your health care provider.

How is it diagnosed?

First, your provider will ask you to describe your symptoms, including the location of the pelvic pain. Next, they may do a pelvic exam, an ultrasound, or an MRI to get a clearer view of the reproductive organs, including the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes. To definitively diagnose endometriosis, surgery is required. This is most commonly performed by laparoscopy. The patient is under general anesthesia while the surgeon inserts a camera into the abdomen through a small incision to evaluate for endometrial-like tissue. Any tissue that looks like endometriosis is removed and examined under the microscope to confirm the presence or absence of endometriosis.

How is it treated?

When it comes to treating endometriosis, first steps involve trying to manage symptoms through pain medications or hormone therapy. Hormones, such as birth control pills, control the rise and fall of estrogen and progesterone in the menstrual cycle. If those initial treatments fail and symptoms are impacting a person's quality of life, surgery to remove endometriosis tissue may be considered.

What now?

Dealing with endometriosis, its pain, complications and fertility problems can be hard to cope with and be stressful. Consider joining a support group of people who can relate to what you are going through. If you'd like to learn even more about endometriosis, watch our other related videos or visit mayoclinic.org. We wish you well.

Endometriosis (en-doe-me-tree-O-sis) is an often-painful condition in which tissue that is similar to the inner lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. It often affects the ovaries, fallopian tubes and the tissue lining the pelvis. Rarely, endometriosis growths may be found beyond the area where pelvic organs are located.

Endometriosis tissue acts as the lining inside the uterus would - it thickens, breaks down and bleeds with each menstrual cycle. But it grows in places where it doesn't belong, and it doesn't leave the body. When endometriosis involves the ovaries, cysts called endometriomas may form. Surrounding tissue can become irritated and form scar tissue. Bands of fibrous tissue called adhesions also may form. These can cause pelvic tissues and organs to stick to each other.

Endometriosis can cause pain, especially during menstrual periods. Fertility problems also may develop. But treatments can help you take charge of the condition and its complications.

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Symptoms

The main symptom of endometriosis is pelvic pain. It's often linked with menstrual periods. Although many people have cramping during their periods, those with endometriosis often describe menstrual pain that's far worse than usual. The pain also may become worse over time.

Common symptoms of endometriosis include:

Painful periods. Pelvic pain and cramping may start before a menstrual period and last for days into it. You also may have lower back and stomach pain. Another name for painful periods is dysmenorrhea.

Pain with sex. Pain during or after sex is common with endometriosis.

Pain with bowel movements or urination. You're most likely to have these symptoms before or during a menstrual period.

Excessive bleeding. Sometimes, you may have heavy menstrual periods or bleeding between periods.

Infertility. For some people, endometriosis is first found during tests for infertility treatment.

Other symptoms. You may have fatigue, diarrhea, constipation, bloating or nausea. These symptoms are more common before or during menstrual periods.

The seriousness of your pain may not be a sign of the number or extent of endometriosis growths in your body. You could have a small amount of tissue with bad pain. Or you could have lots of endometriosis tissue with little or no pain.

Still, some people with endometriosis have no symptoms. Often, they find out they have the condition when they can't get pregnant or after they get surgery for another reason.

For those with symptoms, endometriosis sometimes may seem like other conditions that can cause pelvic pain. These include pelvic inflammatory disease or ovarian cysts. Or it may be confused with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which causes bouts of diarrhea, constipation and stomach cramps. IBS also can happen along with endometriosis. This makes it harder for your health care team to find the exact cause of your symptoms.

When to see a doctor

See a member of your health care team if you think you might have symptoms of endometriosis.

Endometriosis can be a challenge to manage. You may be better able to take charge of the symptoms if:

Your care team finds the disease sooner rather than later.

You learn as much as you can about endometriosis.

You get treatment from a team of health care professionals from different medical fields, if needed.

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Causes

The exact cause of endometriosis isn't clear. But some possible causes include:

Retrograde menstruation. This is when menstrual blood flows back through the fallopian tubes and into the pelvic cavity instead of out of the body. The blood contains endometrial cells from the inner lining of the uterus. These cells may stick to the pelvic walls and surfaces of pelvic organs. There, they might grow and continue to thicken and bleed over the course of each menstrual cycle.

Transformed peritoneal cells. Experts suggest that hormones or immune factors might help transform cells that line the inner side of the abdomen, called peritoneal cells, into cells that are like those that line the inside of the uterus.

Embryonic cell changes. Hormones such as estrogen may transform embryonic cells - cells in the earliest stages of development - into endometrial-like cell growths during puberty.

Surgical scar complication. Endometrial cells may attach to scar tissue from a cut made during surgery to the stomach area, such as a C-section.

Endometrial cell transport. The blood vessels or tissue fluid system may move endometrial cells to other parts of the body.

Immune system condition. A problem with the immune system may make the body unable to recognize and destroy endometriosis tissue.

Risk factors

Factors that raise the risk of endometriosis include:

Never giving birth.

Starting your period at an early age.

Going through menopause at an older age.

Short menstrual cycles - for instance, less than 27 days.

Heavy menstrual periods that last longer than seven days.

Having higher levels of estrogen in your body or a greater lifetime exposure to estrogen your body produces.

Low body mass index.

One or more relatives with endometriosis, such as a mother, aunt or sister.

Any health condition that prevents blood from flowing out of the body during menstrual periods also can be an endometriosis risk factor. So can conditions of the reproductive tract.

Endometriosis symptoms often happen years after menstruation starts. The symptoms may get better for a time with pregnancy. Pain may become milder over time with menopause, unless you take estrogen therapy.

Complications

Infertility

The main complication of endometriosis is trouble getting pregnant, also called infertility. Up to half of people with endometriosis have a hard time conceiving.

For pregnancy to happen, an egg must be released from an ovary. Then the egg has to travel through the fallopian tube and become fertilized by a sperm cell. The fertilized egg then needs to attach itself to the wall of the uterus to start developing. Endometriosis may block the tube and keep the egg and sperm from uniting. But the condition also seems to affect fertility in less-direct ways. For instance, it may damage the sperm or egg.

Even so, many with mild to moderate endometriosis can still conceive and carry a pregnancy to term. Health care professionals sometimes advise those with endometriosis not to delay having children. That's because the condition may become worse with time.

Cancer

Some studies suggest that endometriosis raises the risk of ovarian cancer. But the overall lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is low to begin with. And it stays fairly low in people with endometriosis. Although rare, another type of cancer called endometriosis-associated adenocarcinoma can happen later in life in those who've had endometriosis.

Endometriosis care at Mayo Clinic

Show references

1. Endometriosis. Office on Women's Health. https://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/endometriosis.html. Accessed March 22, 2023.

2. Schenken RS. Endometriosis: Pathogenesis, epidemiology, and clinical impact. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed March 22, 2023.

3. FAQs: Endometriosis. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/endometriosis. Accessed March 22, 2023.

4. AskMayoExpert. Endometriosis. Mayo Clinic; 2022.

5. Smith RP. Endometriosis. In: Netter's Obstetrics and Gynecology. 3rd ed. Elsevier; 2018. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed March 22, 2023.

6. What is assisted reproductive technology? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/art/whatis.html. Accessed March 22, 2023.

7. Schenken RS. Endometriosis: Treatment of pelvic pain. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed March 22, 2023.

8. Lebovic DI. Endometriosis: Surgical management of pelvic pain. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed March 22, 2023.

9. Strauss JF, et al., eds. Endometriosis. In: Yen and Jaffe's Reproductive Endocrinology. 8th ed. Elsevier; 2019. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed March 22, 2023.

10. Lobo RA, et al. Endometriosis etiology, pathology, diagnosis, management. In: Comprehensive Gynecology. 8th ed. Elsevier; 2022. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed March 22, 2023.

11. What are the symptoms of endometriosis? National Institutes of Health. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/endometri/conditioninfo/symptoms. Accessed March 22, 2023.

12. Tuesley KM, et al. Hysterectomy with and without oophorectomy and all-cause and cause-specific mortality. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2020; doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2020.04.037.

13. Burnett TL (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. June 15, 2018.

14. Warner KJ. Allscripts EPSi. Mayo Clinic. May 11, 2021.

15. Mira TAA, et al. Systematic review and meta-analysis of complementary treatments for women with symptomatic endometriosis. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. 2018;143:2.

16. Nabi MY, et al. Endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analyses. Frontiers in Medicine. 2022; doi:10.3389/fmed.2022.914356.

17. Schenken RS. Endometriosis: Clinical features, evaluation, and diagnosis. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed March 23, 2023.

18. FAQs: Laparoscopy. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/endometriosis. Accessed March 23, 2023.

19. Abril-Coello R, et al. Benefits of physical therapy in improving quality of life and pain associated with endometriosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 2022; doi:10.1002/ijgo.14645.

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Learn about endometriosis, including possible treatments for this condition that can cause pain and sometimes infertility.

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"If a school of Lissodelphis don’t want you to see them, you won’t. They will time their movements to the waves, they will breathe at the rate of the ocean herself. As above, so below. From the sky, they will look like the ocean, from the ocean they will look like the sky. And they stay in a tight formation. So they can move undetected."

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Capt Dave's Dana Point Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari

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Very Rare Northern Right Whale Dolphin off the Coast of Dana Point, California

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After reading about teeth in this chapter, it made me think about my experiences with teeth. My teeth were misaligned and I had braces in highschool. Now my teeth are pretty straight but my upper retainer doesn't fit well anymore since I have another molar still emerging. My mom got her wisdom tooth removed and now she can't taste or move half of her tounge due to nerve damage. I've had a mixed view on the dental industry.

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I had no idea that India had river dolphins but its unfortunate that they are endangered.

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Indus and Ganges river dolphins now classified as separate species

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"The leopard seal is not afraid of you. She is not afraid of you. She never was. She remains a mystery to you. You would have to study her on her own terms and you don’t know how yet. It’s okay. You can admit you’ve been afraid of how she knows exactly who she is. Her haunting song. All around Antarctica on pack ice and in water, she is in charge. If you come to hunt her, she will hunt you better, because she’s at home. Black and white? That’s a snack to her. A penguin or a random platypus, it all nourishes something deeper sleeker, older. Blacker than the Black of Black and white can handle, truth be told. She is indeed too cold to hold. Not yours to grasp."

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"Someone somewhere has a worldstar stopwatch, watching, timing, how long will we fight each other?"

I forgot about those worldstar fight videos so I liked this little reference that was included.

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"The CIA has openly used sleep deprivation as an 'interrogation practice' since 9/11. I agree with the psychologists and human rights activists who insist that sleep deprivation is a form of torture."

The CIA has a history of unethical interrogation methods, and this quote made me look into their methods further.

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Senate Report Calls CIA Tactics Inhumane and Ineffective, Details Unethical Application of Psychology - Behavioral Scientist

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e Senate Intelligence Committee’s long-awaited summary of their investigation into the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) interrogation program following 9/11 details a horrifying program of physical and psychological torture they argue was ineffective in eliciting new intelligence.

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Bob Marley had reaaally long hair. I remember hearing about the failed assassination attempt and a myth about his wife Rita, being saved by her dreadlocks which slowed down the bullet when she was shot in the head.

The previous story I mentioned also made me think about a rapper named Denzel Curry. I remember watching an interview with him and he talked about some crazy story, and at one point he was climbing over the top of a bathroom stall when he fell and hit his head on a toilet, but because his dreads were so thick, he didn't hurt his head at all.

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Hearing about the threat of oil drilling and endangered habitats made me think about the Willow Project which got approved despite the protest and public push against it.

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The nation's largest new oil project has survived an early court challenge, but could dog Biden with questions from young voters and environmentalists.

Oil pipelines stretch across the landscape outside Nuiqsut, Alaska, where ConocoPhillips operates the Alpine Field, in May 2019. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

On March 13,the Biden administration approved one of the largest oil developmentson federal land, a decision that came after months of intense lobbying and over objections that the project, known as Willow, would undermine U.S. efforts to phase out fossil fuels worldwide.
Sign up for the Climate Coach newsletter and get advice for life on our changing planet, in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday.
For weeks, this Alaskan oil development - more than 4,000 miles from the White House - has become central to the country's debate over climate change.

It has captivated activists and young people who united online to try to block it. Alaskan leaders and some residents, on the other hand, see it was the most important federal decision facing their state and a potential economic boon.

Oil industry leaders say it is key to their future relationship with President Biden, who recently sought to defend the decision during an official visit to Canada. More recently, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland also defended the decision, saying it was "reality" that the U.S. would continue to use oil and gas. A judge on April 3 rejected an early bid to halt the project, but legal proceedings continue.

Here's what you need to know about Willow.

What to know

Where is the Willow project taking place?

Why is the Willow project controversial?

What is Willow going to do?

What are the benefits and harms of the Willow project?

Why did Biden approve Willow despite his environmental pledges?

What is the fallout from Biden's decision on Willow?

Show all questions

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What is Willow? How an Alaska oil project could affect the environment.

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Alaska's Willow would be the nation's largest U.S. oil project, and it has survived an early court challenge. Why did Biden approve this Arctic drilling site?

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"One thing is for sure: there is no evidence of this whale ever getting caught up in anyone else’s fishing gear or becoming available for any human use. I call it wisdom. The inner capacity that allows a mammal to breathe undetected on a world such as this. Could I ever learn to be so unencumbered, forsaking my lust for the surface? And what would I find at the bottom of this while no one was saying my name? All my love to the depth mammals. You who have learned to slow your breathing, take your time, be where you are, move undetected in a world so drunk on recognition that we drown."

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"Because indeed we are vulnerable to Sea World opportunists"

This quote made me think about the controversies Sea World has had. I honestly never thought too much about Sea World since I went there when I was 7, but after finding this article, I found out about an orca killing its trainer which is pretty scary.

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When you're a child, public zoos and aquariums are magical places. They give you access to incredible wild animals from all around the world, from big cats, primates and marine mammals, to exotic birds, amphibians, reptiles and insects. And they offer once-in-a-lifetime encounters and interactions too.

However, once you become an adult, you start to see some of these facilities for what they really are. Conservation is often an excuse for confinement, and cruelty is too easily confused for discipline. Animals are mistreated, employees are misleading and the general public is misinformed.

An organisation that has been the epitome of controversy for the last 10 years, is Sea World Resort. From the fallout of the explosive 2013 documentary Blackfish , to reports of animal abductions and unnatural breeding programs, they have endured a raft of harmful headlines.

They may have stopped or phased out some of these unethical practices, but there's still not a lot to like. Read on to find out why the ongoing campaign to boycott Sea World is not such a bad idea...

Lives cut short in captivity

A single Sea World Resort contains hundreds of marine animals. They've got dolphins and whales, sharks and stingrays, penguins and polar bears, seabirds and seals, turtles and tropical fish and jellyfish.

As amazing as it is to see these creatures up close and personal, their lives are no picnic in captivity, and their lifespans are significantly reduced. Whilst the average dolphin or orca can live for up to 50 years in the ocean, in aquariums they're lucky to reach 20. Reef sharks and rays usually live for 20 years in the wild, but in captivity, it's only half that.

This is because they are kept in shallow, man-made tanks, pools and lagoons that are around 34 feet deep-not even twice the size of an average orca! With not enough room to swim or exercise, their mental and physical health declines. They can develop depression and diseases like pneumonia, as well as collapsed dorsal fins and infections from scraping their skin on the sides of the tank.

Unable to dive far down, they are also at the mercy of the sun's scorching UV rays. Sea World workers were known to cover up sunburned and blistered orcas with black , so the public were none the wiser.

Forced separations & integrations

To get them used to captivity, Sea World Resort staff often stalked and snatched animals from their mothers and pods when they were very young. Despite the fact that in their natural environment they'd be reliant on mum for 3-5 years, some were taken when they were just 12 months old!

In 2011, Sea World stole 10 baby penguins from Antarctica for "research purposes", and in 2015, they FedEx'd 20 others on a 13-hour journey across America in tiny plastic crates with nothing but ice blocks to stand on.

Due to the stress of separation, many animals don't survive the trip. In 2017, two polar bears who'd spent 20 years together - Szenja & Snowflake - were separated, and Szenja died 2 months later from a broken heart.

Sea World also has a habit of keeping animals confined with incompatible tankmates. This often led to tension and fights (some fatal). When the animals are agitated like this, they turn to self-harm too, to try and ease or end their suffering. Orcas and dolphins often broke their teeth chewing on the metal bars and concrete walls of their enclosures, so employees started drugging them to make them more manageable and docile.

Sexual abuse & interference

Consent has long been a grey area at Sea World Resorts. Touch tanks are still features, and although kids love them, it teaches them the wrong message. In reality, animals should initiate contact, not humans.

Sea World also came under fire for their dolphin and orca breeding programs (which ceased in 2016). Males were masturbated by their trainers for sperm, and females were forcibly impregnated. One orca, Tilikum, fathered 21 calves, but it was reported that only half had survived.

Many of their artificial insemination operations were questionable, including the case of a dolphin named Ringer. She was impregnated by her own father and had several babies, but all of them died (the mammal mortality rate is high for those born out of incest).

Trained to do tricks for treats

Most people associate Sea World with their crowd-pulling presentations of animals doing tricks and interacting with trainers and visitors. They're always popular, but there's a darker side to the and inducing choreographed routines.

Although all animals have a set amount of food they should be given each day, many were deliberately put into performances on an empty stomach. Deprived of food, they were more motivated to follow instructions and put on a good show, and were then rewarded with snacks.

Dolphins and orcas, for example, would never let anyone ride them under normal circumstances, but in a Sea World Resort, they had no choice but to obey in exchange for fresh fish.

Entertaining the paying public is a big part of the company's business model, so having their animals on their best behaviour is key.

Many employee & animal deaths

You expect the odd nip when wild animals and humans interact, but unlike many other marine parks and zoos, Sea World has an abnormally high number of deaths. With animals bored and frustrated, and trainers ill-prepared, it's no surprise really that these fatal incidents occurred.

Hundreds of examples of and acts of aggression have been recorded to date. Male orca orca attacks Tilikum, killed a Sealand of the Pacific trainer in 1991. Despite knowing this, Sea World Orlando bought him, and he went on to kill two more people - including a member of the public who snuck into his tank, and his trainer in the middle of a live show. Another orca, Keto, killed a trainer in 2009 during a practice session in the Canary Islands.

Animals have been on the receiving end of attacks too. Orca Kasatka, who lived in a tank for almost 40 years, was euthanised with lesions all over her body, whilst her mate Kotar, died when a pool gate was shut on his head and fractured his skull.

A beluga whale, Nanuq, died after an encounter with another animal left him with a broken jaw, and a blind walrus named Obie, died at Sea World San Diego after spending 18 years confined and showing signs of serious health issues and psychological distress.

So far, approx. 300 dolphins and whales, and 400 walruses and seals have died on Sea World's watch.

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From animal abuse & abductions, to fights, fatalities & forced impregnations, here are our top 5 reasons why you shouldn't support Sea World Resorts...

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The 7 steps made me think a bit about meditation, but it also made me think about the overall significance of the number 7. I found some information on the symbolism that the number carries however a potion of this article is locked and you have to make an account to see the whole thing.

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"Turns out, one of the very first things Columbus and them did when they got to the Caribbean was to kill monk seals. Six of them. Immediately upon arrival."

My jaw dropped when I read this quote, I hate Columbus more now.

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It really sucks to see such a cool species like these manatees be endangered. I feel like any time I find out about a cool animal of any kind it is always endangered. They seem like a really interesting species and they also look a bit funny.

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One of the 3 manatee species in the world, Trichechus inunguis is a river dweller that can reach 2.8 m in length and weigh half a ton. Manatees are found from the mouth of the Amazon River to the upper reaches of the tributaries of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana and Peru.

Their elongated and flattened rear end, paddle-like fore-limbs and hippo-like snout combine to make this one of the most unusual species in the Amazon.

Amazon manatees are exclusively vegetarian (herbivores), feeding on water lettuce and hyacinth. In the course of a day, they may eat up to 8% of their body weight. They feed mostly during the wet season, when there is plenty of new vegetation, storing the food in their fat reserves.

When the dry season returns, manatees return to the main rivers, where they congregate. During this fasting period, they rely on their stored fat reserves until food becomes available again.

They live in groups of 4 to 8 individuals and are also found alone. Gestation takes approximately 13 months, after which a single calf is born. In captivity, manatees have lived more than 12 years.

The Amazon manatee once had a range throughout the Amazon River Basin - but because of persistent hunting for its meat and oil, it has become a rare sight.

This species belongs to the order Sirenia, of which only 4 species remain today. The other 3 species are the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis), and the dugong (Dugong dugon), which inhabits coastal marine areas of the Indian and Pacific Ocean basins.

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One of the 3 manatee species in the world, Trichechus inunguis is a river dweller that can reach 2.8 m in length and weigh half a ton. Manatees are found from the mouth of the Amazon River to the upper reaches of the tributaries of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana and Peru.

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"Thank you for all the forms of intimacy that teach me what my skin is not and what my armor never was. I wish for you the sacredness of rest, expansive sprawling rest uninterrupted. I love the part of you that is emerging under everything. You deserve to rest long enough to let whatever go. I put my skin right next to yours to let you know that even when you seem alone, I’m with you. And I will wait to see the silver next of you, before you dive again."

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Adorable Seal Cuddle Puddle! Watch what happens...

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"For your sake, for our sake, I wish there was no such thing as code red. I wish this toxic situation didn’t explode and kill so frequently, publicly, unpredictably. Or is it really unpredictable, this red that makes it so hard to breathe today, so many days? Two things research contends about red tides.

1. you can feed it. toxic pollutants nourish naturally occurring toxins.

2. when they occur, it is because of a stirring up of what was already at the bottom of this context.

Which is to say, this is what it looks like when a context built on violence, fed by toxic garbage every day, blooms to the surface. This is exactly what would bloom here in the wake of genocide, and planted blood, bloody plantations, red lining, and red light criminalization."

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Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when colonies of algae-plant-like organisms that live in the sea and freshwater-grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds. The human illnesses caused by HABs, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal.

While many people call these blooms 'red tides,' scientists prefer the term harmful algal bloom. One of the best known HABs in the nation occurs nearly every summer along Florida's Gulf Coast. This bloom, like many HABs, is caused by microscopic algae that produce toxins that kill fish and make shellfish dangerous to eat. The toxins may also make the surrounding air difficult to breathe. As the name suggests, the bloom of algae often turns the water red.

HABs have been reported in every U.S. coastal state, and their occurrence may be on the rise. HABs are a national concern because they affect not only the health of people and marine ecosystems, but also the 'health' of local and regional economies.

But not all algal blooms are harmful. Most blooms, in fact, are beneficial because the tiny plants are food for animals in the ocean. In fact, they are the major source of energy that fuels the ocean food web.

A small percentage of algae, however, produce powerful toxins that can kill fish, shellfish, mammals, and birds, and may directly or indirectly cause illness in people. HABs also include blooms of non-toxic species that have harmful effects on marine ecosystems. For example, when masses of algae die and decompose, the decaying process can deplete oxygen in the water, causing the water to become so low in oxygen that animals either leave the area or die.

Scientists at the National Ocean Service have been monitoring and studying this phenomenon for a number of years to determine how to detect and forecast the location of the blooms. The goal is to give communities advance warnings so they can adequately plan for and deal with the adverse environmental and health effects associated with these 'red-tide' events.

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national oceanic and atmospheric administration

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A red tide is one type of harmful algal bloom. Blooms occur when colonies of algae--simple ocean plants that live in the sea--grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds.