Leila Fouda

Have wild wolves learned to use tools?

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4a1MXZv

Scientists say North Atlantic right whale population slowly increasing Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the most venerable of the leviathans now numbers 384, up eight from past year

North Atlantic right whale numbers estimated at 384. An increase in eight whales from last year - report today by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. Slow population growth trend over the past four years gaining more than 7% of their 2020 population. 🦑🐋🧪🌍
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Another great paper on baleen whales & calving
🐳🌍🦑🧪

📸 Southern right whale: Fredrik Christiansen, Aarhus University 📸 North Atlantic right whale: Center for Coastal Studies, taken under NOAA permit #24359 👉 Link to paper: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v768/meps14914

Our recent study in the #MarineEcologyProgressSeries
highlights how body size, condition, and human impacts shape the survival of right whales & why they are so vulnerable to prey limitation and disturbance 🐋

🔗 in thread

#Conservation #WhaleResearch #RightWhales #OceanHealth #MarineScience 🌐🌏🧪🌱

Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Who conducts biological research, where they do it and how results are disseminated vary among geographies and identities. Identifying and documenting these forms of bias by research communities is a ...

New Paper: Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology - "Who conducts biological research, where they do it and how results are disseminated vary among geographies and identities." doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 🧪🌍 #bias #research #science #academia

"The myth of meritocracy...collapses under the financial sacrifices expected at every career stage... the hidden costs of ‘doing science’ are profound. These burdens disproportionately exclude those without generational wealth, compounded by race and gender. An important read #STEM #Academia 🧪

Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...

Anyone interested in blue whales and want to apply for a Simons Fellowship (due 31 July)? Do let me know, I have some projects in mind.
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

The Penguin Book of Penguins!

Coming later this year: a beautifully illustrated book about the world’s most beloved bird, written by British Antarctic Survey’s Peter Fretwell @ptfretwell.bsky.social

What better day to reveal the cover the #WorldPenguinDay? ⬇️

Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime | George Monbiot The horrifying planning bill, which rips up environmental protections, was drafted with CEOs in mind. We know because Keir Starmer told us, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

"The bill pretends that everything is tradeable. You can destroy an ancient woodland, as long as you deliver an 'overall improvement' in woodland cover, namely saplings in plastic tubes."

Reminder that the only way to replace a 200 year old tree is to plant a tree and wait 200 years

Grab a coffee and find out how 18,000 years ago you might have spotted megabergs off the coast of the UK!

NOAA just announced a long list of datasets that are going away🧪⚒️🌊: www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/docume...
Download what you need asap and send comments to: ncei.info@noaa.gov

Social media for fisheries science and management professionals: How to use Bluesky and Instagram, and why you should ABSTRACT. Social media tools have revolutionized how people communicate with one another. A 2018 paper in Fisheries summarized the use of Twitter, Facebook

New paper!

Social media for fisheries science and management professionals: How to use Bluesky and Instagram, and why you should.

This is the *first* paper in the peer reviewed scientific literature to explain how Bluesky works and how to use it for #SciComm 🧪🦑🐠

academic.oup.com/fisheries/ad...

Migratory behaviour of humpback whales in the southeastern Pacific under climate change - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Migratory behaviour of humpback whales in the southeastern Pacific under climate change

Effect of oceanic conditions on humpback whale behaviour modelled. During migration whales engage in feeding & rely on environmental cues & memory of conditions to start migration to arrive at krill bloom. Unclear if whales will succeed tracking prey in changing climate doi.org/10.1038/s415... 🦑🐋🧪🌍

Aerial view of a North Atlantic right whale swimming in blue ocean water with pieces of seaweed floating around.

The Center and allies have moved to intervene in a lawsuit challenging a 2008 federal rule protecting North Atlantic right whales from speeding ships and other vessels.

Learn more: biodiv.us/4jzUEb9

Students watching last of the right whales. Immediately at the front of the photo is a light turquoise yeti of coffee and a pile of tissues

A large box of Timbits on top or a large box of tissues!

Movie Day in class today aka Timbits & Tissues. We aired Last Of The Right Whales as part of the conservation conversation. Sharing work done across the North Atlantic, by our lab & our many brilliant colleagues trying to save the North Atlantic right whale. #Whales #Conservation #NARW #Teaching 🐋 🌎

Seastar Named for Youngest Cousins of Scripps Family A seastar that specializes in living on pieces of wood that have fallen into the ocean is among the top 10 new marine species described by researchers in 2024. And in the case of this particular inver...

⭐ A newly discovered sea star has been named after a group of children representing the latest generation of the Scripps family, who have supported Scripps Oceanography for over a century! 🌊 Meet the Scripps Cousins Wood-Dwelling Seastar, also known as the Caymanostella scrippscognaticausa.

Seriously remote work, in Antarctica. The photo is of Halley Research Station, stretching into the distance on a flat white polar landscape, with the label 'Today's Office'

Year-end scramble getting you down? ⏳

Applications for lots of our Antarctic #jobs are closing in the next week. They include vehicles manager at Halley, and Radio Operator and IT Engineer at Rothera Research Station.

These are jobs unlike any other, in one of the most beautiful places on Earth ⬇️

Eastern Monarch Butterfly Population Nearly Doubles The population wintering in central Mexico's forests occupied 4.42 acres, up from 2.22 acres during the previous winter.

Who wants some good news?

The overwintering monarch population, which had plummeted last winter, has doubled this winter! www.worldwildlife.org/stories/east...

Minke mania today! Minke #whales came to check us out! #biopole2
@bas.ac.uk @biopole.bsky.social

born too late to get a two Western blot Nature paper, born too early to be a science TikTokker, born just in time to start a postdoc during a global pandemic and look for faculty positions during a historic hiring freeze

There's a #LunarEclipse tonight! If you're in the dark region here, and if you have a view of the Moon at the right time, you'll see the eclipse. Check www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/luna... for more info and timings for the eclipse in your location. (Here on the East Coast, totality peaks around 3am.)

Call for submissions of ocean conservation success case studies.

We ( @drcatmac.bsky.social and I) are writing a marine conservation science and policy textbook!

We'd love to include case studies of ocean conservation success stories, and we welcome submissions of ideas here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Please be clear and detailed!

🧪🦑🌎🐟

Bad romance: male octopuses inject deadly venom into their mates The paralysing toxin deployed by the male blue-lined octopus might help to protect him from being eaten.

"Male blue-lined octopuses inject females with venom during mating to avoid being eaten by their partners"

🐙 Octopuses never cease to amaze me. Also perfect headline for the week of Gaga's new album
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Refers to Chung et al here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Great Whale Conveyor Belt: Earth's Largest Mammals Keep Oceans Thriving Large whales operate what scientists have called “the Great Whale Conveyor Belt,” the largest long-distance nutrient transport on Earth.

We recap the whole study here: whalescientists.com/the-great-wh...

Migrating baleen whales transport high-latitude nutrients to tropical and subtropical ecosystems - Nature Communications Baleen whales migrate from high latitude feeding grounds to subtropical reproductive winter grounds, translocating limiting nutrients across ecosystems. This study estimates the latitudinal movement o...

The great whale conveyor belt of pee, skin, dead bodies & poop!! Whales transport ~4,000 tons of nitrogen yearly to low-nutrient coastal areas in the tropics and subtropics. Species recovery might help to restore nutrient movement by whales in global oceans! doi.org/10.1038/s414...
🦑 🐋 🧪 🌍

So proud of @eubalaenagina.bsky.social and her next exciting steps at The Marine Mammal Center in California! I am really glad we got to overlap at UNB and I will be following along as you do more brilliant science! May we all continue to fight as hard as Gina does for the world and people around us

Wow! A23a the world’s largest and oldest iceberg has come to a stop near South Georgia! It brings with is a wealth of nutrients that could lead to "an explosion of life in the ocean" around it. Read more below. 🦑, 🧪, 🌍 bbc.com/news/article...

Magical! This chinstrap penguin came to say hello to #RRSSirDavidAttenborough, which is currently near the South Orkney Islands.

Look at him go! 🐧

48 Scientific Societies Representing Almost 100,000 Scientists Ask Congress to Protect the Future of Science 48 scientific societies representing almost 100,000 scientists signed on to a letter asking Congress to protect the future of science

Today, a broad coalition of scientific professional societies who represent over 92,000 scientists are speaking out against the politicization and demonization of Federally funded science and government scientist jobs.

It was an honor to help the Union of Concerned Scientists with this! 🧪🌎

A photograph of a golden eagle landing, its wings wide open and its talons outstretched. In background, there are rocky mountains partially covered by snow. By Audun Rikardsen.

A photograph of a dozen of sperm whales swimming in deep blue water. By Tony Wu.

A photograph of a leopard laying down on a wall, with its legs and arms resting against the wall. By Masood Hussain.

A photograph of clump of spotted salamander eggs in a vernal pool. On either sides, there’s deep green leafy vegetation. By Steven Johnson.

Today marks World Wildlife Day, a vital reminder of the importance of protecting our planet’s wildlife. 🌏

For over 60 years, Wildlife Photographer of the Year has helped us see our natural world through a different lens, showcasing its beauty and the necessity to preserve it.