Dolphins and Whales News

April 23, 2024

Top Headlines

Apr. 12, 2024 — Marine researchers have mapped the density of one of the most endangered large whale species worldwide, the North Atlantic right whale, using new data to help avoid right whales' harmful exposure to commercial fisheries and vessel strikes. The ...

Toothed Whale Echolocation Organs Evolved from Jaw Muscles

Apr. 8, 2024 — Genetic analysis finds evidence suggesting that acoustic fat bodies in the heads of toothed whales were once the muscles and bone marrow of the ...

Caller ID of the Sea: Tagging Whale Communication and Behavior

Mar. 25, 2024 — Biologists use a novel method of simultaneous acoustic tagging to gain insights into the link between whale communication and ...

Scientists Weigh Up Current Status of Blue Whale Populations Around the World

Mar. 20, 2024 — The largest living animal, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) which averages about 27 meters in length, has slowly recovered from whaling only to face the rising challenges of global warming, ...

Latest Headlines

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Entanglements of Humpback Whales in Fish Farms Rare -- And Naivety Could Be to Blame

Mar. 21, 2024 — The first study of humpback whale entanglements in B.C. aquaculture facilities found eight over 13 years, with the curiosity of young whales a ...

Ancient Giant Dolphin Discovered in the Amazon

Mar. 20, 2024 — Measuring between 3 to 3.5 meters, 16 million years old: Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new species of freshwater dolphin in the Peruvian Amazon region. Surprisingly, its closest ...

Killer Whales Use Specialized Hunting Techniques to Catch Marine Mammals in the Open Ocean

Mar. 20, 2024 — Killer whales foraging in deep submarine canyons off the coast of California represent a distinct subpopulation that uses specialized hunting ...

Shark-Bitten Orcas in the Northeastern Pacific Could Be a New Population of Killer Whale

Mar. 15, 2024 — Researchers believe a group of killer whales observed hunting marine mammals including sperm whales, as well as a sea turtle, in the open ocean off ...

Menopause Explains Why Some Female Whales Live So Long

Mar. 13, 2024 — Females of some whale species have evolved to live drastically longer lives so they can care for their families, new research ...

Rope Entanglement Cause of Low Breeding Rates in Right Whales, Analysis Finds

Mar. 13, 2024 — New findings show the severe impact of fishing gear entanglements on the survival of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, with every ...

Orcas Demonstrating They No Longer Need to Hunt in Packs to Take Down the Great White Shark

Mar. 2, 2024 — An orca (killer whale) has been observed, for the first-ever time, individually consuming a great white shark -- and within just two ...

Slimming Down a Colossal Fossil Whale

Feb. 29, 2024 — A 30 million year-old fossil whale may not be the heaviest animal of all time after all, according to a new analysis by paleontologists. The new analysis puts Perucetus colossus back in the same ...

Climate Change Could Push Bowhead Whales to Cross Paths With Shipping Traffic

Feb. 21, 2024 — The population of bowhead whales that migrates between the Bering and Beaufort Seas each year is a conservation success story, with today's ...

Toxic Elements Found in Stranded Whales, Dolphins Over 15 Years

Feb. 21, 2024 — Researchers evaluated the prevalence, concentration and tissue distribution of essential and non-essential trace elements, including heavy metal toxicants in tissue (blubber, kidney, liver, skeletal ...

Baleen Whales Evolved a Unique Larynx to Communicate but Cannot Escape Human Noise

Feb. 21, 2024 — The iconic baleen whales, such as the blue, gray and humpback whale, depend on sound for communication in the vast marine environment where they live. Now researchers have for the first time found ...

Surprising Behavior in One of the Least Studied Mammals in the World

Feb. 9, 2024 — Beaked whales are among the least studied mammals in the world. Now, a new study reveals surprising information about the Baird's beaked whale ...

Humpback Whales Move Daytime Singing Offshore

Jan. 24, 2024 — New research revealed a daily pattern wherein humpback whales move their singing away from shore throughout the day and return to the nearshore in the ...

Whale-SETI: Groundbreaking Encounter With Humpback Whales Reveals Potential for Nonhuman Intelligence Communication

Dec. 12, 2023 — A team of scientists had a close encounter with a non-human (aquatic) intelligence. The Whale-SETI team has been studying humpback whale communication systems in an effort to develop intelligence ...

Vulnerability of England's Only Resident Bottlenose Dolphins

Nov. 29, 2023 — New research has provided a detailed examination of England's bottlenose dolphin population's existence and the challenges it faces from human activities and environmental factors on a ...

WhaleVis Turns More Than a Century of Whaling Data Into an Interactive Map

Nov. 16, 2023 — A team has created an interactive dashboard called WhaleVis, which lets users map data on global whale catches and whaling routes from 1880 to 1986. Scientists can compare this historical data and ...

Endangered Whales Live in Area Earmarked for Gas Exploration

Oct. 26, 2023 — Endangered whales and dolphins live year-round in an area of the Mediterranean earmarked for oil and gas exploration, new research ...

Whaling Wiped out Far More Fin Whales Than Previously Thought

Oct. 17, 2023 — Whaling in the 20th century destroyed 99% of the Eastern North Pacific fin whale breeding population. Because there is enough genetic diversity, current conservation measures should help the ...

Gray Whales Experience Major Population Swings as a Result of Arctic Conditions

Oct. 12, 2023 — Dynamic and changing Arctic Ocean conditions have likely caused three major mortality events in the eastern North Pacific gray whale population since the ...

Killer Whales' Diet More Important Than Location for Pollutant Exposure

Oct. 11, 2023 — Both elegant and fierce, killer whales are some of the oceans' top predators, but even they can be exposed to environmental pollution. Now, in the largest study to date on North Atlantic killer ...

Evolutionary Secrets of 'Old Tom' and the Killer Whales of Eden Revealed by Genetic Study

Oct. 11, 2023 — Evolutionary biologists have for the first time decoded the genetic lineage of a famous killer whale and a pod that once worked alongside whale hunters off the coast of Australia. In the Australian ...

DNA from Discarded Whale Bones Suggests Loss of Genetic Diversity Due to Commercial Whaling

Oct. 2, 2023 — Commercial whaling in the 20th century decimated populations of large whales but also appears to have had a lasting impact on the genetic diversity of today’s surviving whales, new research ...

Why Are Killer Whales Harassing and Killing Porpoises Without Eating Them?

Sep. 28, 2023 — For decades, fish-eating killer whales in the Pacific Northwest have been observed harassing and even killing porpoises without consuming them —- a perplexing behavior that has long intrigued ...

Whales Around the World Play With Kelp Clumps

Sep. 27, 2023 — A new article has analyzed another understudied behavior in baleen (filter-feeding) whales such as humpback whales in different populations across the northern and southern hemispheres. They appeared ...

Mutation Rates in Whales Are Much Higher Than Previously Reported

Aug. 31, 2023 — An international team of marine scientists has studied the DNA of family groups from four different whale species to estimate their mutation rates. Using the newly determined rates, the group found ...

Microplastics Found Embedded in Tissues of Whales and Dolphins

Aug. 10, 2023 — Microscopic plastic particles have been found in the fats and lungs of two-thirds of the marine mammals in a graduate student's study of ocean microplastics. The presence of polymer particles ...

Gray Whales Feeding Along the Pacific Northwest Coast Are Smaller Than Their Counterparts Who Travel Farther to Forage

Aug. 9, 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 ...

Whale-Like Filter-Feeding Discovered in Prehistoric Marine Reptile

Aug. 8, 2023 — A remarkable new fossil from China reveals for the first time that a group of reptiles were already using whale-like filter feeding 250 million years ...

Elusive Pygmy Right Whale Is a Homebody

July 31, 2023 — The smallest member of the filter-feeding family is one of the only whale species not to embark on seasonal migrations, new research ...

Post-Menopause Orca Mothers Protect Their Sons from Being Injured by Other Orcas

July 20, 2023 — Female killer whales live up to ninety years in the wild, and most live an average of twenty-two years after menopause. Scientists have long wondered why humans and some whale species spend a ...