As Vessels Find New Routes, Bowhead Whales Face New Threats
WWF: 02/01/2024

The climate crisis is upending a unique and complex ecosystem that has existed in the Arctic for millennia. The loss of sea ice means more vessels can pass through the Bering Strait, bringing more ocean noise and pollution and driving up the risk of catastrophic oil spills and deadly ship strikes. In this special issue of The Circle magazine, Angie Szesciorka asks, What will this mean for bowhead whales — an ecologically and culturally important species — and the Indigenous communities that rely on them?

Tilting the Scales
Natural History Magazine: 01/01/2024
Tilting the Scales article

Robert Pitman shares a personal story about how difficult it can be not to intervene with the cruelty of nature. 

Killer whales seemed to wreak havoc this year. What drove their headline-making behavior?
NBC News: 12/29/2023

“They’re not afraid of boats, and there’s nothing for them to eat there,” said Robert Pitman, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. “They’re intelligent, social animals, and they live in what I think is probably an under-stimulating environment for their mental capacity.”

Killer whales wow tourists and hunt dolphins off San Diego coast
KPBS: 12/27/2023

MMI Affiliate Bob Pitman is interviewed in a story about increased sightings of killer whales off the coast of Southern California. “Most killer whales tend to be close to the coast because that’s where most of the food is."

Oceanic Cacophony
Eos: 12/21/2023

When scientists listen with sensors placed throughout the oceans, Kate Stafford said, “it can seem quite loud and chaotic.” Marine wildlife like whales, dolphins, and many fish “are not visual like most of us humans are,” Stafford said, and “largely rely on their sense of hearing to navigate their world.” 

Building a Blue Whale with Dr. Lisa Ballance, Director Marine Mammal Institute
Beyond Your Front Door Northwest: 12/19/2023

Lisa Ballance talks to the Beyond Your Front Door Northwest podcast about a blue whale stranding in 2015 and the ensuing monumental effort to reconstruct the skeleton.

Listening to Giants [Blue Whales]
NSF Discovery Files Podcast: 12/17/2023

Kate Stafford, an associate professor and bio-acoustician at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, joins today to explain how a film brought her to the Republic of Seychelles to locate blue whales using their vocalizations, share insights into whale song and explain how she hears climate change.

Zoop to Poop: Pacific Coast Feeding Group
Society for Marine Mammalogy: 12/02/2023

PhD student Lisa Hildebrand talks to the Marine Mammal Science Podcast about her research studying the prey of gray whales.

Why Are So Many Gray Whales Washing Up On Shore?
PBS Terra: 11/28/2023

Josh Stewart and Leigh Torres are featured in this PBS mini-documentary about new understandings of gray whale Unusual Mortality Events.

"Summer resident” gray whales
Society for Marine Mammalogy: 11/25/2023

On this episode of the Marine Mammal Science Podcast, Associate Professor Leigh Torres talks about the health and habitat of the “summer resident” gray whales.

Blue whales: Ocean giants return to 'safe' tropical haven
Earth Island Institute: 11/22/2023

In 2021, Kate Stafford and Ladd Irvine took part in a research voyage aimed at finding and identifying a population of blue whales in the Seychelles. In this article from BBC, Dr. Stafford describes the research as well as the fascinating qualities of blue whale song.

Changing Arctic conditions appear to explain waxing and waning gray whale populations
The Jefferson Exchange: 10/25/2023

MMI Assistant Professor Joshua Stewart is interviewed by Jefferson Public Radio in this segment about how changing Arctic conditions may be at the root of fluctuations in gray whale populations.

Gray whales experience major population swings as a result of Arctic conditions, research shows
OSU Newsroom: 10/12/2023

A new paper first-authored by MMI Assistant Professor Joshua Stewart shows that gray whales are susceptible to changing Arctic conditions, which may become more dramatic as climate change unfolds.

DNA from discarded whale bones suggests loss of genetic diversity due to commercial whaling
OSU Newsroom: 10/02/2023

Angie Sremba and colleagues identified bones of humpback, blue, and fin whales near abandoned whaling stations on South Georgia Island. They found that while genetic diversity among the whales remains high, there are indications of a loss of maternal DNA lineages in the blue and humpback populations. The findings were published recently in the Journal of Heredity.

Good news for world’s rarest marine dolphin?
University of Auckland: 09/29/2023

Postdoctoral Scholar Keith Hernandez is first author on a new paper that indicates the median age of critically endangered Māui dolphins has shifted one year younger than previously measured. This was determined with a minimally invasive "epigenetic clock" that uses small skin samples of living animals.

The fate of a century-old partnership between humans and dolphins
The Science Breaker: 09/04/2023

Humans’ interactions with nature have been the key to our global ecological success. But such interactions are typically one-sided — humans gain the largest benefits; nature pays the larger cost. Interactions that benefit both humans and nature are rare. Can we prevent remaining human–wildlife cooperation from turning into another human–nature conflict?

‘Exploding Whales’ partnership with Eugene baseball team benefits OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute
OSU Newsroom: 08/15/2023
Exploding whale logo

A minor-league baseball promotion rooted in a quirky bit of Oregon history will culminate this weekend in Eugene with a fundraising auction to benefit Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute.

Humpback Whales Are Moving into New Territory
Alaska Public Media: 08/10/2023

Associate Professor Kate Stafford was interviewed about a recent paper on humpback whale sightings in the Arctic. (Her interview begins at 18:59.) Sightings and acoustic detections of humpback whales have increased in the southern and central Chukchi Sea in recent years as the Arctic has been warming. Extreme sea ice retreat in fall opens further habitat to humpback whales and other temperate species. 

Gray whales feeding along the Pacific Northwest coast are smaller than their counterparts who travel farther to forage
OSU Newsroom: 08/09/2023

Gray whales that spend their summers feeding off the coast of Oregon are shorter than their counterparts who travel north to the Arctic for food, new research from Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute shows. The females average 3 feet shorter and males average 1.5 feet shorter, said the study’s lead author, K.C. Bierlich, a postdoctoral scholar in the institute’s Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory.

Poop and prey help researchers estimate that gray whales off Oregon Coast consume millions of microparticles per day
OSU Newsroom: 06/26/2023

A new paper authored by Leigh Torres and Susanne Brander estimates that gray whales feeding off the Oregon Coast consume up to 21 million microparticles per day. Microparticle pollution is a threat to the health of gray whales, in addition to obstacles related to increased boat traffic and loss of prey.

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