Now, the marine heatwaves which have engulfed New Zealand over recent years have been shown to disrupt local feeding and breeding of our own population of the planet’s largest animal: the blue whale.
Postdoctoral Scholar Solène Derville is the lead author on a new paper that describes the times of year and locations where whales are at greatest danger of entanglement in fishing gear on the Oregon Coast.
A new study of New Zealand blue whales’ vocalizations indicates the whales are present year-round in the South Taranaki Bight and their behavior is influenced by environmental conditions in the region.
To conduct the study, Solène Derville, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute, and colleagues focused on the whale skin samples scientists occasionally gather to learn about the animal’s sex, genetics, diet, and health.
MMI postdoctoral scholar Solène Derville was interviewed about a new study on the importance of assessing the potential impacts of deep-sea mining on cetaceans.
Researchers with Oregon State University have spent so much time with our local gray whales that they know them by name. Now, they’re sharing those observations to help casual whale watchers become better acquainted with the animals and to help raise money for additional research through the their Adopt a Whale campaign.
Blue whales need to find dense patches of krill to survive. A new study suggests that they accomplish this by tracking wind-driven events that stir up their prey. Leigh Torres, an associate professor at the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute, says the results are not only convincing, but an important step forward when it comes to conservation strategies.
“It seems like these big die-offs are driven more by conditions in the Arctic, which these days is probably a result of climate change,” Assistant Professor Josh Stewart said. Doctoral student Lisa Hildebrand shared that the body conditions of the Pacific Coast Feeding Group gray whales have been improving over the years, while the body conditions of whales going all the way to the Arctic have been getting worse.
Dawn Barlow and colleagues listened to the blue whale undersea chorus in the South Taranaki Bight, New Zealand. To their surprise, they found that the whales appeared to be unperturbed by natural seismic activity.
MMI grad student and postdoctoral researchers were recently aboard the R/V Bell M. Shimada as part of ongoing marine mammal surveys. Listen to a 4-min story here to share in their excitement over finding the tiny crustaceans that whales call food.
“All these sightings over the past month have been pretty exciting,” Leigh Torres said. “And what’s especially cool here is that you can view them from the shore pretty easily.”
“The gray whales eat mainly mysids while here off Oregon, so we are guessing that food supply might be reduced,” [Leigh] Torres said.
[Leigh] Torres is hoping to see more and healthier whales this year. Some of the underfed whales they spotted in years past have not recovered to where researchers think they should be.
The Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory at OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute has developed a website that allows visitors to meet some of the whales the researchers have identified over the years. IndividuWhale aims to teach about the animals, the stressors humans put on whale populations, and how those stressors can be reduced.
The Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute has developed a website, https://www.individuwhale.com/, where visitors can learn about some of Oregon's iconic whales.
