[spodek]

However much life has returned, it's nothing compared to before the Industrial Revolution. The wonderful book The Once and Future World by JB MacKinnon changed my understanding of how much more wildlife there was, everywhere. The Thames, for example, had walruses. Captain's logs of ships before steam wrote of being stopped in the middle of the ocean because the sea was so dense with fish.

Today, visitors to Maine feel lucky and pleased if they see a whale. Ships used to see whales as far as the eye could see all day long.

I recorded a couple video essays of the book for a bit more:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLAvBiols2Y

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4NZdciDozI

[kkjjkgjjgg]

This person claims they saw a seal off London bridge recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29198398

[robinhouston]

It’s not uncommon to see seals in the Thames, even in central London. I’ve seen one. ZSL have a map of sightings: https://sites.zsl.org/inthethames/#Public%20sightings

[Nux]

There are seals and sharks in the Thames nowadays. The sharks live in the salty estuary, though.