Reduced genetic diversity: another challenge facing the Southern Resident killer whales?

Reduced genetic diversity: another challenge facing the Southern Resident killer whales?

As charismatic mega-predators, killer whales have no equal. Historically feared, respected, in some cultures revered, we now know them to be intelligent and highly social. They also have  fascinatingly strong ideas about what constitutes food, with different populations having vastly different preferred prey.  Not surprisingly, then, the plight of the critically endangered salmon-eating Southern Resident…

Investigating individual distinctiveness in the calls of wild belugas   

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…