Have you ever asked, “Why do whales jump?” Well, there’s not a precise answer, but we will try to answer it in this post, so keep reading. If you’ve ever played in shallow water, you might have used your feet to push off the bottom and pretend to jump out of the water like a […]
Don’t flip out: whales jump for more than one porpoise Read More »
How long can you hold your breath underwater? If you’re not a professional free-diver or a navy seal, chances are you’ll probably reach around a minute or two. While the human record of natural underwater breath-holding lies at an impressive 11 minutes, marine mammals easily beat all the records. Cuvier’s beaked whales are the ultimate
How did whales become the world’s deepest-diving mammals? Read More »
This April, let’s celebrate Hector’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori). They are the only cetaceans endemic to New Zealand, which means they are only found there. Hector’s dolphins actually include two subspecies: the endangered South Island’s Hector’s dolphins and the critically endangered Maui dolphin. Let’s find out more about Hector’s dolphins in this post. One of the
The mysterious Hector’s dolphins Read More »
Scientists have for a long time thought that orcas in Iceland specialized in eating fish (like herring). Recently, however, experts have noticed that some Icelandic orcas seem to enjoy another type of snack: marine mammals. This could be a problem, and eating marine mammals could threaten the long-term survival of these orcas. In this post,
Preying on marine mammals might be threatening the survival of Icelandic orcas Read More »
While we were looking for the most frequently googled terms associated with cetaceans we encountered the terms “dolphin sex” and “whale penis”. Generally, penises have been far more in the spotlight than vaginas for a long time. For instance, the Icelandic Phallological Museum was established in 1997 in Reykjavík (including a range of cetacean specimens).
Dolphin vaginas will blow your mind Read More »
Welcome to our first official bilingual article on beluga whales in Quebec! A new pipeline project connecting Alberta and Quebec recently proposed in Canada could threaten a local beluga population’s survival. Below this English version, you will find a translated text for our french-speaking readers. Bienvenue à notre tout premier article bilingue sur les bélugas
This natural gas project threatens the survival of beluga whales in Quebec Read More »
As you may or may not have heard that there is a potentially new species of a beaked whale! Scientists just discovered this new species off Baja California. Here we explain how scientists discovered this possibly new species. We will also dive into how to determine if there is, in fact, a new species of
Whale Ho! A Potential New Whale Species? Read More »
We are wrapping this year with a lesser-known, but very well studied ziphiid, or beaked whale, the northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus). The northern bottlenose whale is the largest member of the beaked family found in the North Atlantic Ocean. They have a bottle-shaped beak and a hooked dorsal fin, hence the “bottlenose” in their
The Northern Bottlenose Whale Read More »
What species are out there in the big blue ocean? How many individuals are there? These are some of the biggest questions scientists face when studying populations. Specifically, when a particular species is in danger of becoming extinct. In marine science, visual tracking alone is not always practical. Our first post on the vaquita was
Acoustic monitoring of the critically endangered vaquita Read More »
In brief: Female bottlenose dolphins in Australia use tools such as sponges for hunting fish. They teach their daughters this unique technique and create a new culture. The presence of standard behavior is considered indicative of the culture. Scientists have long-questioned the existence of culture in non-human species. Culture is a reason for uniformity within
Dolphin girl gang uses sponges to catch prey and create a new culture Read More »
