This post talks about the future of sperm whales and other deep-divers in the Canary Islands. Sperm whales are such amazing animals. These whales are the world’s largest toothed whales, living up to 70 years. These giant whales are quite similar to submarine: they can deep-dive while holding their breath for about 45 minutes below …
Protecting the Canary Islands’ sea and its sperm whales Read More »
Whales did not just appear from the depths of the ocean. They have an intriguing evolutionary story. This story shines a light on what makes them so unique and well-adapted for their watery world. In this post, we explain the evolution of whales, from tiny ungulates to the killer whale. It All Began on Land… …
Fadia Al Abbar is a 31 years-old half Dutch half Kuwaiti marine mammalogist. She is currently doing her PhD on common dolphins in the Azores. Here is her story… Fadia’s education A focus on policy making I started my bachelor’s degree in environmental science, with a focus on policymaking at Utrecht University, in the Netherlands. …
Did you know you could encounter free dolphins outside of the ocean? Did you know these dolphins are pink and have whiskers?! This month’s we travel deep into the Amazon’s (and the Orinoco) forest and river basins, where we find the elusive Amazon River Dolphin or Boto (Inia geoffrensis). Just Around the River Bend… The …
A TikTok video became viral in the last couple of days. In this video, you can see a person pressing their hand on a beluga whale’s squishy head. The video had a lot of people enraged because they believed the person was mistreating the whale by pressing on its brain. We decided to write this …
Whalecome to the July 2020 whale of the month: The Pilot Whale. The pilot whale genus “Globicephalus” means round head. I had the chance to watch these lovely creatures during a trip to the Canary Islands seven years ago. I have found them super cute ever since! In this post, I list a couple of …
Alexandre Bernier-Graveline is a 25-year-old Canadian whale scientist. He comes from the Québec province. He holds a Msc. from UQAM (the University of Quebec in Montreal). His master research focuses on ecotoxicology in beluga whales from the Saint Lawrence Estuary. Alexandre’s education I first did a bachelor’s degree (3 years) in biological and ecological sciences …
Whale Scientists Story: Alexandre Bernier-Graveline Read More »
June is Orca Awareness Month! We wanted to focus this post on the Southern Residents because they are the most endangered population of killer whales. Yet, they are among the most studied whales in the world. We know so much about them. Here is a little introduction to these beautiful majestic whales. Populations and Ecotypes …
Orca Awareness Month: Southern Residents (Part One) Read More »
Hvaldimir’s story Some of you might have heard of Hvaldimir, the “Russian spy” beluga. Maybe you even heard of him without knowing his name. This beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) has become quite famous in Northern Norway. He was found on April 26th, 2019, in a little fjord called Tufjord, on an island off the northern …
Noise in the ocean comes from different sources. Some are natural (seismic activity, tectonic movements), and some are human-made like sonars, underwater bombs, etc. Deep diving whales rely on echolocation to hunt for their prey. The noise from human activities can affect these whales in quite extreme ways. In this post, we will talk about …
Noise from military activities hurt deep-diving whales Read More »
