Join us for episode 16 of Cetacean Sessions: Navigating killer whale diets in a changing environment. In this must-see episode, we will discuss the following: 

Why studying killer whale diets is so important, and what new tools can we use to understand what they eat,

How different diets can impact the fitness of different killer whale ecotypes,

How killer whales may adapt to a changing environment by learning to hunt in a human-impacted environment.

Our special guests will be Maeva Terrapon, Chloe Kotik,  and Emily Hague, all early-career researchers.

The first short presentation by Maeva Terrapon willl discuss the mysterious diets of killer whales in the Indian Ocean and cover some of her recent unpublished work on killer whale teeth as a tool to study their diets. Then Chloe will discuss some of her work on photogrammetry and explain how different diets can impact the fitness of killer whale ecotypes in the North Pacific. Then finally, Emily will discuss how killer whales may adapt their hunting techniques to navigate human infrastructures like aquaculture. 

Presentation and discussion will be followed by live Q&A with the audience.

For viewing/participating, we recommend earbuds/headphones and using Chrome or Firefox.

Cannot watch live? No worries! You can watch the replay anytime, for free (but you will need to register to watch).

Cetacean Sessions is a bi-weekly seasonal webinar series where we discuss impactful recently published scientific research on cetaceans with those conducting it around the world. Season 3 is focused exclusively on early-career researchers' publications. Cetacean Sessions is informal, educational, interactive, and geared towards those working with or interested in cetaceans. You can register for sessions and follow our channel for free with no account creation necessary.

Maeva is a PhD student at the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. After encountering killer whales in the Mozambique Channel in 2015, she realized that very little was known about this population and decided to focus her PhD thesis on these enigmatic animals. Her work aims to investigate the distribution, movements, and feeding ecology of killer whales in the tropical Southwest Indian Ocean. It uses a combination of different methods, such as stable isotopes, photo-identification, and passive acoustic monitoring, to learn more about this killer whale population.

Chloe is a killer whale researcher and PhD student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the United States. She is currently studying the life history of Bigg’s killer whales with a special focus on the impacts of anthropogenic pollutants.

Emily is a PhD researcher based at Heriot-Watt University (Scotland). Her research investigates the impacts and effects of multiple anthropogenic stressors on marine mammals. She is enthusiastic and motivated to work to improve her understanding of how humans impact the marine environment, particularly whales, dolphins, porpoise,s and seals.

Whale Scientists is a science communication platform created by two PhD students, Anaïs Remili and Naomi Mathew. It aims to share scientific knowledge with the public in a fun, entertaining way, to share tips with aspiring marine mammalogists on how to become whale scientists, and to share the incredible journeys of early-career researchers. You can find more info at: https://whalescientists.com/

Bay Cetology enables conservation and understanding of cetacean populations that are data deficient or threatened by climate change and human development. Our marine biologists and research technicians use various expertise to conduct field studies, analyze data, and communicate findings. Bay Cetology was founded by Jared Towers in 2017 and is based out of Alert Bay (Home of the Killer Whale) in the unceded traditional territory of the ‘Namgis First Nation, British Columbia, Canada. See more about our previous work and current projects at https://baycetology.org

Cetacean Session #16