New research by OI member 𝗗𝗿 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗶𝘀 indicates southern right whale mothers may be resting upside down in order have a break from their calves. Listen to the interview at www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... (𝘚𝘬𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 2:08:00 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘦'𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸)

Timely reporting of whales in distress is crucial to improve rescue efforts and help protect the migrating population. "This is not just an Australian problem, this is a global problem" shared OI member Dr Kate Sprogis. www.facebook.com/share/r/14gb...

A cool fun science story - Southern right whale mums regulate their calves' nursing by lying upside-down. Great work by Renae van Noort, @katesprogis.bsky.social, Barbara Stewart and Fredrik Christiansen from @uwaoceans.bsky.social & @marinemammalsau.bsky.social 🐳🌍🦑🧪 🧵1/2

Energy-conserving behavioural strategies in southern right whale mother-calf pairs during early lactation - Mammalian Biology

As capital breeders, baleen whale mothers fast while on the calving grounds, relying on finite energy reserves to give birth and support the rapid growth of their calves. Whereas maternal size and con...

link.springer.com

Fun @nationalgeographic.bsky.social piece by Melissa Hobson on how #rightwhale mums turn upside-down to regulate their calf's nursing. From a paper by Renae van Noort, @katesprogis.bsky.social , Barbara Stewart & Fredrik Christiansen: @uwaoceans.bsky.social & @marinemammalsau.bsky.social 🐳🌍🦑🧪

Scientists finally have an explanation for this weird whale behavior

Mother right whales were captured in a rare video with their bellies up. It could be a sign they need a break.

nationalgeographic.com

This behaviour is unique, rather perplexing and not reported in other large whales.

Upside-down whales aren’t sick or hurt – they’re just resting

theconversation.com

Another apparent case of H5 avian influenza in a wild bird is a cause for concern – but it’s not the same as an outbreak.

A suspected bird flu case has now been found in NSW. Here’s what that means

theconversation.com

Southern right whales resting upside-down, why? New research paper in Mammalian Biology: doi.org/10.1007/s429...

Red List Status & Extinction Risk of the World’s Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises published in Conservation Biology showed that 1 in 4 cetacean species (26% of 92) were assessed as threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable) conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The IUCN published Red List update 2025-2 on October 10th, coinciding with the 2025 World Conservation Congress. Sperm Whales remain Vulnerable and Lahille’s Bottlenose Dolphins were assessed as ‘Endangered. Check out our news item for more: tinyurl.com/45yn4rvk #IUCN #RedList #Conservation

Wishing you a joyful start to the new year! In this time of new beginnings, we invite you to shake up your world view by shifting focus to the ocean. Check out why It's an Ocean World: go.whoi.edu/ocean-world

🌍🦋 Across 6 continents, 21 sites & 15,000 paper moths, we joined a worldwide experiment led by @wlallen.bsky.social & Iliana Medina, showing how ecological context shapes the evolution of animal colouration. Proud to be part of this global team effort: doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Frontiers | A global review of operational fishery interactions with killer whales (Orcinus orca): dynamics, impacts, and management strategies

Frontiers | A global review of operational fishery interactions with killer whales (Orcinus orca): dynamics, impacts, and management strategies

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are cosmopolitan, apex predators that sometimes interact with commercial fisheries. These fishery interactions can affect killer...

frontiersin.org

Wild map: all the places in the world where killer whales take fish from fishing activities, often right off hooks on lines By @emmaluck22.bsky.social et al. www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...

🎉BREAKING: The High Seas Treaty has reached 60 ratifications — enough to enter into force! This landmark agreement creates a pathway to help protect the high seas — waters beyond any one country’s authority that cover nearly half our planet. https://oceana.ly/3VqpI2Y

🐬 Dolphins & whales depend on sound to survive, but industrial noise is drowning them out 🔊 🐋 @whalesorg.bsky.social's new report 'Towards Quieter Seas' shows how noise pollution from industries like oil & gas disrupt vital behaviours #EndOffshoreDrilling 👉 https://bit.ly/4nlxlUo

There is increasing interest in using AI tools not only to listen in on animal speech, but also to potentially talk back go.nature.com/4mtVo2u

AI is helping to decode animals’ speech. Will it also let us talk with them?

Nature - The complexity of vocal communication in some primates, whales and birds might approach that of human language.

go.nature.com

New research in #AusMammalogy compared the whiskers of wombats, finding that southern hairy-nosed wombats have longer, thicker whiskers. Without a rhinarium, the study's authors suggest they may depend more on whiskers to navigate & interact. www.publish.csiro.au/AM/AM25025 @womsat.bsky.social

🌐🧪🦤 Considering prey availability has the exciting potential to improve marine conservation efforts, as evidenced in this case study modeling the habitat of critically endangered North Atlantic #RightWhales. #OceanScience #Maine #ProtectOurOceans #BluePlanet. bit.ly/esr_58_67

NEW RESEARCH Application of spatially robust stereo-BRUV sampling for quantifying fish assemblages in UK marine protected areas Watch the video to learn more, and find the paper here - esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @owenexeter.bsky.social @kristianmetcalfe.bsky.social 🦑🧪🌍🐟

New study by @exetermarine.bsky.social @heriotwattuni.bsky.social @zslofficial.bsky.social underscores the critical importance of Very Large Marine Protected Areas for safeguarding wide-ranging marine species. #MPAs news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...

Chagos study highlights value of vast Marine Protected Areas

Large ocean animals can be protected throughout much of their lifecycle by huge Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), new research shows. Scientists tracked sea turtles, manta rays and seabirds – all of whic...

news.exeter.ac.uk

B.C. researchers can now determine a #whale’s sex from its wake vancouversun.com/news/how-bc-... via @vancouversun.bsky.social

B.C. researchers can now determine a whale’s sex from its wake

Ocean Wise recently published a first-of-its-kind study on decoding the sex of whales from environmental DNA.

vancouversun.com

Rising Heat, Rising Risks: Understanding the Nexus of Marine Heatwaves, Fishing Dependence, and Vulnerability to Coastal Communities 🔗 buff.ly/wrmWoS0

One in six species on Earth experienced extraordinarily high temperatures across more than 25% of their range in 2024--the hottest year on record. For most, this was the second year of extreme heat, likely compounding risks. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🐳 Collecting small skin samples from southern right whales to examine questions on genetics, diet, sex and age. With @robharcourt.bsky.social and @emma-carroll.bsky.social. 🔗 tohoravoyages.ac.nz/welcome-to-m... 🇦🇺 #southernrightwhale

"Bottom trawling is one of the most widely used, & most destructive, fishing practices in the world" 🎣 Yet it's allowed in most of our marine protected areas. Check out this new BBC podcast for more info 🌊👇 www.bbc.com/audio/play/w... Then TAKE ACTION 🪸🔽 only.one/act/uk-mpa-c...

By being large and fat, baleen whales can endure long periods with little or no prey 🌐🌏🧪🌱 We found that: 🐋 A southern right whale in average condition could survive up to 17 months without feeding. 🐋 But a severely entangled North Atlantic right whale may only last about 50 days. 🔗 to paper:

Our recent study in the #MarineEcologyProgressSeries highlights how body size, condition, and human impacts shape the survival of right whales & why they are so vulnerable to prey limitation and disturbance 🐋 🔗 in thread #Conservation #WhaleResearch #RightWhales #OceanHealth #MarineScience 🌐🌏🧪🌱

🔊 Paper alert! 🐬🎧 Noise of high-speed vessels 🚤 impairs the #biosonar ability of #harbourporpoises 🐬 - making it more difficult for them to 🤯 sense surroundings, 🧭 navigate and 🐟 hunt prey within several hundred meters. 🥳Huge contribution to understanding masking effects! 🌐 doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

Check out this huge international initiative to enhance whale conservation: bluecorridors.org. 🐋 Such a great example of global collaboration towards an important goal. So excited to get to be part of this cool group of people! 🤗 x.com/WWF/status/1...

New paper alert!🚨Satellite tracking reveals southern right whales🐋feed in key high seas area, outside of existing protections. shorturl.at/2Vgst Funders: @aucklanduni.bsky.social @royalsocietynz.bsky.social LiveOcean @docgovtnz.bsky.social IWC-SORP ASOC @Macquarie_Uni RaeFamilyFoundation