Wolves, whales, and elephants: animal personalities, culture, and conservation
How studying animal culture can inform conservation.
Valeria Vergara
Dr. Vergara holds a BSc in Biology and a Masters in Behavioral Ecology, both from Trent University in Ontario, and a PhD in Zoology from the University of British Columbia. She is a Co-Director of Raincoast's Cetacean Conservation Research Program. More about Valeria.
Marine mammals in a changing Arctic Ocean
The paper highlights the importance of bridging different ways of knowing, emphasizing that Indigenous Knowledge encompasses more than ‘data,’ and includes holistic expertise on culture, society, language, ethics, relationships, practices, and more.
Fly with care: avoiding disturbance when using drones to study cetaceans
Can drones disturb the animals that we strive to understand?
Belugas, the Sea Canaries: Deciphering a complex communication system
Belugas, nicknamed “sea canaries”, are one of the most loquacious cetacean species, producing an impressive array of sounds for a variety of purposes, such as social communication, group cohesion, maintaining mother-calf contact, navigating, and detecting prey.
My summer with the white whales
“Dot is back!” exclaims Jaclyn from atop our beluga observation tower. We photo-identified this female beluga during our second field day. “That dimple below her dorsal ridge isn’t just a charming beauty mark, it’ll help us re-sight her over the summer…and hopefully next summer too!” – Jaclyn tweeted. Now, only a day later, Dot is…
Investigating individual distinctiveness in the calls of wild belugas
Beluga whales produce a multitude of sounds for a variety of functions. To date, calls used for group cohesion and for mother-calf contact, known as ‘contact calls’, are the best understood 4,6,8,11,13,14. The fact that contact calls sound nothing like the typical chirps and whistles that are common in the beluga vocal repertoire, but instead…
Dr. Valeria Vergara is teaching a course on whale and dolphin culture
Senior Scientist and Co-Director of our Cetacean Conservation Research Program, Dr. Valeria Vergara, is teaching the course, which is part of the SFU’s Continuing Studies Program.
The Kitlope: A place that changes you
Sacred to the Haisla and known as Xesdu’wäxw (Huschduwaschdu), which means “blue, milky, glacial water”, the Kitlope is now the largest protected temperate rainforest on the planet.
Raising calves in beluga society
Exploring why belugas care for each other’s offspring.
Mom, can you hear me? Impacts of underwater noise on mother-calf communication in endangered beluga whales
We investigated whether the elevated levels of underwater vessel noise in the estuary could interfere with the ability of beluga mothers and their newborn calves to regain contact after separations.