The findings are a window into the rich inner lives of whales – and allow us to check the health of the ocean.
Articles on Blue whales
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Colliding with ships is a top cause of whale deaths. A new study maps the areas of highest risk, showing where proven strategies such as speed limits and new shipping routes can reduce the toll.
The Southern Ocean’s krill-rich waters attract multiple species of filter-feeding whales – and, increasingly, fishing boats.
Sperm whales support ecotourism in Kaikōura and blue whales come to feed off the New Zealand coast – but both may become a rare sight as ocean temperatures continue to rise.
Human farts and sneezes can be big — so imagine the size if they came from the world’s biggest animals?
Some species, including blue whales, spend little time at the surface. So despite their overwhelming size, they can be hard to find and tough to study.
How did whales that feed on tiny prey evolve into the largest creatures on Earth? And why don’t they get even bigger?
We don’t know for sure which one is smarter, because not everyone agrees on what “intelligence” means. Both have their own special behaviours and skills and we can’t say who is more intelligent.
The only sea creature known to attack blue whales is the orca, also known as a ‘killer whale’. But humans present a much bigger threat to them.
Songs of marine animals can help us discover new populations.
Antarctica’s blue whales all feed in the same place. But a new genetic analysis suggests they are actually three separate populations that breed in different parts of the globe.
But the giants of the future won’t be the same fish, whales and sharks we know today.
The Natural History Museum’s plan to remove “Dippy”, the cast of a diplodocus skeleton, from its entrance hall, and replace it with a genuine skeleton of a blue whale has been met with outrage. The #savedippy…
When commercial whaling was banned in 1986 it put an end to a harvest that threatened the existence of some of the most majestic animals on Earth. With several species reduced to tiny fractions of their…
The residents of Trout River in Newfoundland, Canada have a stinking whale of a problem. What to do with the 81-feet-carcass of Balaenoptera musculus on their shore? While such an occurrence is not uncommon…
How do you get to know one of Earth’s most mysterious creatures? By looking at its earwax, according to a group of US researchers. Analysing the contents of blue whales’ ears, through a process similar…
Antarctic and pygmy blue whale subspecies may be interbreeding in waters off Antarctica. The study of whale genetics challenges…
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Research Scientist, Stanford University
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Reader in Biology, University of St Andrews
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Ph.D. Candidate, Brown University
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Professor Evolution & Ecology, UNSW
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Assistant Professor of Biology, Baylor University
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Associate Professor in Marine Biology, Flinders University
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Academic in Molecular Ecology, Flinders University
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Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Sheffield
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Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in American Studies, University of Nottingham
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Marine Ecology, UNSW
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Researcher and co-director of The Oceania Project , Southern Cross University
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Lecturer in Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
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Research Geologist and Curator of Fossil Marine Mammals, Smithsonian Institution
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Whale Scientist and Lecturer, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University
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Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Biogeography, Node & Stream Leader for ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, University of Technology Sydney; Australian Museum