Marine Mammal Institute

Research Associate Clarissa Teixeira analyzes the baleen plates of Arctic bowhead whales to understand the whales' prey choices over time. Professor Kate Stafford incorporates data from indigenous communities to understand how bowhead and humpback whale movements are changing as Arctic ice conditions change.

Evidence collected from a recent research project suggests the world’s largest animals — blue whales — are successfully breeding off the Taranaki coast, but their future is under threat from climate change. Scientists from Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute spent three weeks at sea, studying the impacts of climate change on blue whales and krill in the South Taranaki Bight as part of the SAPPHIRE Project.

A warming environment is driving changes in the migration patterns of some fish and whale species. Clarissa Teixeira and Kate Stafford study the diets and movements of Arctic bowhead whales and how they are being affected by the changing climate. 

Leigh Torres's work has taken her all over the world as she studies the behavior and environment of marine animals including blue whales. She recently returned from a research trip off the coast of New Zealand.

Postdoctoral Scholar Hannah Myers and colleagues found that 42 of 199 tagged Chinook salmon were eaten by salmon sharks.

Two sea turtles washed up along Oregon’s beaches in the final days of 2024, bringing the number of sea turtles that appeared on the state’s shores last year to 17, the highest number the state has seen. “During the winter months, in particular, we tend to see sea turtles succumbing to hypothermia,” said Jim Rice, program manager at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

MMI Postdoctoral Scholar Taylor Hersh has been named one of five women in science awardees by L’Oreal USA for 2024, a recognition that also comes with a $60,000 grant that will support her research on the diversity and temporal dynamics of bowhead whale song.

Drone video of gray whales captured over seven years off Oregon has revealed new details about how the giant marine mammals find and eat food. “Before this study, we thought that any whale used any of those behaviors,” said the lead author of both studies, Clara Bird, a researcher at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. “No one really thought that there was a pattern in who used which behavior.”

Drone footage captured by researchers in Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute is offering new insight into the acrobatics undertaken by gray whales foraging in the waters off the coast of Oregon. The findings were just published in two new papers authored by Clara Bird and co-authored by Leigh Torres.