Marine Mammal Institute

In a virtual field trip, “Southern Exposure,” viewers can join Dr. Markus Horning and his colleagues as they investigate how changing sea ice conditions may impact ice-dependent polar seals, like Antarctica's Weddell seals. The website was produced by the education department of the Alaska Sea Life Center and includes multiple videos, classroom activities, lesson plans, and associated material for school teachers.

A new paper, co-authored by MMI's Ari Friedlaender, reveals that the mysterious "bio-duck" sound that has stumped researchers for decades belongs to Antarctic minke whales.

The GEMM Lab led a research expedition in January 2014 that collected observational, behavioral, and oceanographic data to prove the existence of a blue whale foraging ground in the South Taranaki Bight (STB) in New Zealand. Prior to this study, it was thought that blue whales only migrate through New Zealand waters, which is reflected in its listing by the New Zealand Threat Classification System as a Migrant, offering blue whales no distinct conservation protection. The GEMM Lab is currently planning a comprehensive research program to improve knowledge of this blue whale population by generating estimates of abundance, residency, and distribution in the STB. These are the data needed to ensure the...

Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, said genetic identification showed that, in many cases, the mothers of calves were missing entirely from groups of whales that died in the stranding. This separation of mothers and calves suggests that strong kinship bonds are being disrupted prior to the actual stranding – potentially playing a role in causing the event.

For the past 7 years, MMI principal investigator Markus Horning has been following the lives and deaths of endangered Alaskan Steller sea lions. His results suggest that predation, not a drop in birth rate, is the largest impediment to recovery of the species.

More than 99 percent of Antarctic blue whales were killed by commercial whalers during the 20th century, but the first circumpolar genetic study of these critically endangered whales has found a surprisingly high level of diversity among the surviving population of some 2,200 individuals.

Each fall, Scott Baker teaches a 3 credit course on 'The natural history of whales and whaling' (FW499/599) based at HMSC. The students finished the fall quarter with a debate, following a Karl Popper format.  

An unprecedented decade-long study of apex predators in the Pacific Ocean found a wider range of distribution among some species than previously thought, unknown relationships between other species, and the importance of biological “hotspots” to the survival of most of these sea creatures.
 

Associate Director Scott Baker and PhD student Becca Hamner were in Cloudy Bay, New Zealand, working with colleagues to collect genetic samples and individual identification photographs from Hector's dolphins.