Jasmin Groß is a 33-year-old german postdoctorate research fellow. She works on humpback whale ecology at the Helmholtz Institut for Functional Marine Biodiversity, in Oldenburg, Germany. Jasmin’s education took her around the world I completed my studies at seven different universities all around the world. I did a gap year in the USA after high...

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Happy new year! This January, we are happy to feature the Sowerby’s beaked whale, also known as the North Atlantic beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens). This rare and elusive whale is quite understudied because it spends most of its life deep under the ocean’s surface, hunting for prey. Did you know that males sometimes compete with...

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One of the most fundamental pieces of information about individuals (including dolphins) is their age. In biology studies, scientists need to know how old an animal is to understand many aspects of its life history and, for example, to estimate the viability of a population. But estimating an animal’s age is no easy feat when...

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Dolphin males can sometimes form life-long friendships with one another. This type of relationship is known in the field as “male pair bonds.” These bonds are typically formed between two males (sometimes three) of similar age. The males in the pair bond will engage in a range of cooperative activities, like hunting and courting females,...

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Welcome back to our Whale of the Month series! After taking a short break, we decided to introduce Sotalia dolphins this month. These mysterious dolphins live in both the sea and the rivers of South America. They include two species: the Guiana dolphin or costero, and the tucuxi. These tiny little dolphins face many human...

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Life as a dolphin isn’t always easy, and predators are always lurking in the shadows of the deep ocean. Throughout their lives, dolphins may suffer diverse injuries, from shark bites to boat propeller wounds to even sunburns! But dolphins must recover quickly if they wish to survive in the ocean. Good news for our slippery...

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Happy September! After a short summer break, let’s welcome the bowhead whale as our whale of the month! These magnificent baleen whales only reside in the polar waters of the Arctic. They are also the oldest living mammal on earth. Let’s find out more about them! A bowhead whale surfaces in Fram Strait, to the...

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Erica Wirth is a 26-year-old American naturalist and captain working in California. She also is the founder of a successful podcast, Breaching Extinction. Here is her story. Erica earned a dual degree in Environmental Studies and Psychology I attended Eckerd College, earning a dual degree in 3.5 years. Eckerd was my dream college, and I...

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A new paper by Dr. Andy Foote just came out; it encourages people to stop calling North Atlantic killer whales “type 1” and “type 2”. These two types were defined by Dr. Foote himself during his PhD research. Let’s find out why we should stop talking about two types in the North Atlantic. A male killer...

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How long do whales live? Whales have some of the longest life spans in the mammal kingdom. In fact, several whale species have been recorded to live over 100 years old! Which whale lives the longest? Do captive whales live longer than their wild counterparts? How can we calculate the age of wild whales? Let’s...

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