The latest edition to our video series on bioacoustics discusses the distinctions between Mysticetes and Odontocetes (whales, porpoises, and dolphins). http://ocr.org/portfolio/intro-to-odontocetes-mysticetes/ Enjoy!
Category: Ocean Life
New discovery of songful bowheads
It’s always a delight to learn something new about ocean life. Some 40 years ago whale researcher Roger Payne came to understand that Humpback whales sang complex, beautiful, and patterned songs. Their haunting melodies released in an LP as “The…
Bio-acoustics Video Series
After a bit of time in development we are finally launching our Bioacoustics Video Series. Accessible from both the OCR website as well as for general distribution on the OCR YouTube channel, these pieces are (and will be) mini-lectures on…
NYT Report of whales “self-mitigating” for noise exposure a bit misleading.
A New York Times article is making the rounds about how a captive false killer whale has demonstrated a mechanism for attenuating potentially damaging noises. Paul Nachtigall, the principal investigator of the study has conditioned the subject to de-sensitize its…
Singing fish lead to conservation programs
OCR associate and marine biologist Mario Rivera has received coverage in Costa Rica’s “El Financiero” for his work with singing fish. He is using sound-pattern recognition software to identify breeding aggregations of fish – in this case “weakfish” (Cynoscion squamipinnis) to determine…
Oceans Day only comes once a year
It always amuses me when as a culture we take pause for a moment to focus on something or someone that has been instrumental to our existence or way of life. Mother’s Day comes to mind, as does Memorial Day.…
Oil industry sponsored workshop on ocean noise
About ten years ago I attended a workshop sponsored by the US Navy on the “Environmental Consequences of Underwater Sound” (ECOUS) attended by scientists, geophysicists, regulators, Navy personnel, and a couple of us from the environmental NGO community (eNGO’s). We…
“Live” mapping of Cetaceans and Ocean Noise
Following up on last week’s newsletter on Marine Mammals and Mapping, there is some fabulous utility in mapping noise and marine mammals as illustrated in a benchmark program in the Stellwagen Banks National Marine Sanctuary (NMS). Chris Clark and his…
Marine Mammals and Mapping
I’ve just returned from a symposium on “Cetaceans and Noise Mapping” sponsored by NOAA and agency partners Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The purpose of the meeting was to explore and expand…
An Earth Day we won’t forget
On Earth Day two years ago today a tragedy began as a consequence of a number of factors that led up to the loss of control of the Deepwater Horizon “semi-submersible,” dynamically-positioned oil drilling platform. As the disaster unfolded it…