We are excited to share our new publication in the Journal of Experimental Biology , titled: Daily Energetic Expenditure and Energy Consumption of Short-Finned Pilot Whales ( https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.249821 ). The paper is accompanied by a JEB Spotlight  article.   Authors: William Gough, Brijonnay Madrigal, Augusta Hollers, Jens Currie, Robin Baird, Kristi West, Andreas Fahlman, Frank Fish, Lewis Evans, Martin van Aswegen, Brian Stir

Written by Martin van Aswegen We are pleased to share a new publication in Marine Ecology Progress Series , entitled: Age-specific body length, mass, and energetic cost of growth in humpback whales. Authors: Martin van Aswegen , Andy Szabo , Jens Currie , Stephanie Stack , Jan Straley , Janet Neilson , Christine Gabriele , Kelly Cates , C. Scott Baker , Debbie Steel , Adam Pack , Kristi West , Nicholas Hofmann , Rob Toonen , Coral Loockerman , Florence Sullivan , Ted Cheesema

Written by MMRP PhD student Lewis Evans We are excited to share our newly published manuscript   in Marine Mammal Science . Titled:  Elevating photo-identification: Aerial-identification improves re-sight rates and supports long-term monitoring of humpback whales Authors: Lewis I. Evans , Martin van Aswegen , Sonja Feinberg, Jens J. Currie , Stephanie H. Stack , Andrew Szabo , Lars Bejder Why did we conduct this study? Not all whales are the same. They differ in size, body co

Written by Martin van Aswegen We are pleased to share a new publication in The Journal of Physiology , entitled: Maternal investment, body condition and calf growth in humpback whales. This publication is accompanied by another study estimating the energetic cost of gestation in humpback whales. Authors: Martin van Aswegen , Andy Szabo , Jens Currie , Stephanie Stack , Lewis Evans , Jan Straley , Janet Neilson , Christine Gabriele , Kelly Cates , Debbie Steel , and Lars Bejd

Written by Martin van Aswegen We are pleased to share a new publication in The Journal of Physiology , entitled: Energetic cost of gestation and prenatal growth in humpback whales . Authors: Martin van Aswegen , Andy Szabo , Jens Currie , Stephanie Stack , Kristi West , Nicholas Hofmann , Fredrik Christiansen , and Lars Bejder . Figure 1. Graphical abstract summarizing key methods and findings from the study. Abstract: Improving our understanding of energy allocation in repro

Written by MMRP PhD student Fiona-Elaine Strasser ~ During my first trip to Antarctica working as a polar expedition guide, I expected a routine zodiac cruise in Paradise Bay in the Drake’s Passage. But moments after we started the cruise, soft blows echoed all around us, and suddenly, gliding calmly through the glassy waters, a group of humpback whales surfaced and passed directly by us. As I turned off the engine of my zodiac, I realized:  We were merely tiny spectators sur

Written by Fabien Vivier We are pleased to announce a new publication  in Animal Conservation  entitled: Inferring dolphin population status: using unoccupied aerial systems to quantify age-structure.     Abstract: Assessing trends in population abundance and demographics is crucial for managing long-lived and slow-reproducing species. Obtaining demographic data, and age-structure information, is challenging, notably for cetaceans. To address this, we combined Unoccupied Aeri

Members of the MMRP and Pacific Whale Foundation spent the first half of November doing fieldwork off the coast of Lānaʻi. The primary goal of this fieldwork was to deploy Customized Animal Tracking Solutions (CATS) suction-cup tags  on false killer whales ( Pseudorca crassidens ) as part of Jens Currie ʻ dissertation research (read more about these tags and this project in last yearʻs Lānaʻi blog pos t!) Video made by Jens Currie featuring the tag deployment on a false kille

Written by Fabien Vivier We are pleased to announce a new publication in Ecology and Evolution entitled: Quantifying the age-structure of free-ranging delphinid populations: testing the accuracy of Unoccupied Aerial System-photogrammetry. Video created by Anna Schmalz: https://www.mmrphawaii.org/interns Vivier, F ., Wells, R. S., Hill, M. C., Yano, K. M., Bradford, A. L., Leunissen, E. M., Pacini, A. , Booth, C. G., Rocho-Levine, J., Currie , J. J., Patton, P. T., & Bejder

Written by Gussie Hollers Members of the MMRP spent the last ten days working with the Pacific Whale Foundation off the coast of Lānaʻi. The primary goal of this fieldwork was to deploy Customized Animal Tracking Solutions (CATS) suction-cup tags on false killer whales ( Pseudorca crassidens ) as part of the dissertation project for new MMRP graduate student Jens Currie . With this data, Jens will be able to gather new insights into the foraging ecology of the endangered Mai

Written by Fabien Vivier and Kyleigh Fertitta . In May 2022, Research Assistant Kyleigh Fertitta and I (PhD Candidate Fabien Vivier) were invited by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP) operated by the Chicago Zoological Society , to help advance drone research in delphinids. This program, led by Dr. Randall Wells , is the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population, focusing on resident bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ), inhabiting Sarasota

Written by Martin van Aswegen At the beginning of each year, I head to the Maui Nui region to study the whales frequenting the shallow, calm waters of the Au’au Channel (Figure 1). Each winter, Hawaii hosts approximately 10,000 humpback whales migrating from cool, productive feeding grounds throughout the North Pacific. These migrations extend between 5,000-10,000 miles round-trip, representing some of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom. As capital breeders, humpba

Written by Liah McPherson My master's thesis research with MMRP is focused on the abundance and demographics of spinner dolphins offshore west Oʻahu . It's an important project, and one that I'm excited to share more about in the coming months – but here at MMRP, I'm fortunate to be able to contribute to multiple projects within our lab and with other collaborators. This February, I had the extraordinary opportunity to travel to Antarctica with California Ocean Alliance to

By Liah McPherson I remember the exact moment my advisor, Lars Bejder , asked me if I wanted to go to Antarctica. It was June 1st, 2021, and I was grabbing food to take outside at our (covid safe) lab get-together. I’m pretty sure I spent the rest of the gathering staring dreamily into space, contemplating the potential future of collecting data on whales at end of the Earth. Fast forward eight months, and I’ve just arrived to the West Antarctic Peninsula for the second of t

Written by Fabien Vivier In September 2021, we conducted boat-based surveys off the Kona coastline in search of spinner dolphins ( Stenella longirostris ). This field effort was part of my PhD thesis research focusing on quantifying the age structuration (proportion of calves, juveniles, and adults) of the spinner dolphin population off the Kona coastline. Please click on the following hyperlinks if you would like to know more about my work and previous blog s. During the f

Written by Martin van Aswegen Following disrupted fieldwork in 2020, this year was a great opportunity for MMRP PhD student Martin van Aswegen and Director Dr. Lars Bejder to make up for lost time and data. Representing our third consecutive year of data collection on humpback whale ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) body condition across Hawaii and Alaska, 2021 was shaping up to be an important year for the project. The humpback whale energetics project aims to quantify the ene

Written by Liah McPherson Well, the first semester of my master’s degree was fairly routine: taking classes, reading papers, and getting together all the bits and pieces necessary to begin my research in January. But less than a week into 2021, I was out on the water, bouncing around in an XL north swell, trying to find spinner dolphins during my first winter field effort. Since then, I’ve been to Maui (twice) to help Martin out with his PhD work on humpback whales (and lea

Written by Liah McPherson Studying dolphins has always been my life’s goal. Truly, I cannot remember a time in my life when I wasn’t fascinated by these animals (my parents have saved many anatomically pathetic drawings of dolphins from my early childhood). So in April, when I found out I was accepted to the Marine Biology Graduate Program at UH Manoa set to work with the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) –– to say I was overjoyed would be an understatement! After mo

Written by Martin van Aswegen Following successful winter sampling in 2019, Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) Director Dr. Lars...

Written by: Lars Bejder Every winter, ~10,000 humpback whales migrate to Hawaii, with the main purpose of breeding. The time period...