Fighter jet https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/xf-92a-delta-wing/

How do blue whales stop themselves tipping over when they inflate their lower jaw to engulf krill? The upper jaw! The triangular shape of the upper jaw keeps them swimming forward, acting like the delta-shaped wings of a fighter jet

Fish et al. 2026: doi.org/10.1111%2Fmm...

You asked for it… SMM is delivering!
We are officially kicking off the Society for Marine Mammalogy Virtual Seminar Series: a brand-new, members-only initiative designed to help you learn, discover, and connect with the global marine mammal community.

Paleontology talk - Fossil whales and dolphins of the Pacific northwest and origin of baleen Just before Valentine's Day I was invited by my colleague Dr. Win McLaughlin to fly up to Coos Bay, Oregon, for a few days to give a talk ...

#whaleontology 🐬🦖New blog post - public lecture on the evolution of whales and dolphins revealed by fossils from the Pacific Northwest, and the origin of baleen. Full recorded lecture is up on youtube! Read the post, and watch the video, here:

🐳 Ship strikes kill an estimated 10,000 marine mammals around the world each year. To help mariners become better stewards of the sea, WHOI researchers are developing breakthrough technologies like thermal imaging and acoustic buoys.

📲Go behind the scenes of innovation: go.whoi.edu/whale-aware

Hiiii!!

Fantastic opportunity to work with us at Shark Bay Dolphin Research 👇🏻

Southern right whale recovery reverses as reproduction declines Southern right whales are having fewer calves as sea ice shrinks. Scientists say this species may now be a warning sign of climate change.

Southern right whale recovery reverses as reproduction declines, which could be the result of climate change, scientists say.
share.google/cxVKUdqaZD8V...

YouTube video by Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC) Fossil Whales of the Pacific Northwest and the Evolution of Baleen

#worldwhaleday Last week I was invited by @paleowin.bsky.social to give a lecture at her institution (SWOCC) on the evolution of whales. If you want to learn about about the origin of baleen and the importance of fossils from the Pacific Northwest, watch here: 🐬🦖🧪 www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7jg...

Aerial view of two whales swimming in shimmering green ocean water, sunlight reflecting on the surface. One whale raises its fluke near the top left. Stock image.

A study in Scientific Reports suggests the observed decline in reproductive success of the western Australian population of southern right whales is influenced by environmental changes in mid- and high-latitude feeding grounds. go.nature.com/3MDSqfS 🌊 🌍 🧪

WATCH: Trump, EPA's Zeldin announce end of scientific basis for U.S. action on climate change The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressiv...

Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change—all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.

Climate crisis linked to fall in southern right whale birth rates as researchers raise ‘warning signal’ Lead author of Australian study says breeding slowdown is linked to climate-driven changes in ‘magnificent’ whale’s foraging grounds

Interesting piece by @petrastock.bsky.social in @theguardian.com on the slowdown of calving in the Southern #rightwhales at the Head of the Bight, South Australia.

From a new scientific paper led by Claire Charlton
Open Access link in the article.
🐳🌍🦑🧪

NEW PAPER (OPEN ACCESS): How could future climate scenarios may affect the distribution of dolphins and porpoises in the North Atlantic? Here, we modeled the current and future distributions of small cetaceans in the North Atlantic under 3 climate scenarios: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Japan’s went non-IWC, Iceland is non-fin whales, Norway is whaling but 200 or 300 minkes, so… ???

As mentioned in the article, the #IWC turned 80 this year. The whaling moratorium turned 40

So, for the first half its existence it was a whalers' club. For the second half it's been driven by the moratorium, which has minimized commercial whaling.

What comes next?
🐳🌍🦑

The social and cultural lives of belugas | Raincoast Exploring beluga sociality and culture through the lens of behaviourial and evolutionary ecology.

New scientific review highlights the complex and culturally rich social lives of beluga whales: #belugas live in multilevel, dynamic societies shaped by kinship, sex, and culture. www.raincoast.org/2026/02/soci...

Gray Seal Cannibalism at the Largest Colony in the World, Sable Island Click on the article title to read more.

Another new paper led by SMRU's @izzylangley.bsky.social: First observations of grey seal cannibalism at Sable Island, inc. a comparison of carcass pathology to cases in Scotland. Collab between SMRU, DFO and @dalhousie.bsky.social with support from @oceanfrontier.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/mms....

Humpback whales cast bubble nets to catch prey. They may be learning from each other Humpback whales will sometimes use an intricate strategy to catch food called bubble-net feeding. A new study suggests they're spreading the knowledge of how to do it to each other.

🐋 Loved having a chat about bubble netting humpbacks on @npr.org's Science Desk with Nate Rott! As a *major* NPR Tiny Desk fan... can someone tell me is this the scientists' equivalent?! 🤪

www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...

Side-on photograph of an Antarctic blue whale in the water. There is a white mark around the dorsal fin. Photograph taken by Taryn Lawson, HX Expeditions.

Image of the dorsal fin and flank of an Antarctic blue whale swimming away from the camera. A white mark is visible around the dorsal fin and lower on the back. Photograph taken by Ruben Fijn, Oceanwide Expeditions

Great news from South Georgia, where an Antarctic blue #whale photographed in 2019 has been re-sighted in 2026! Whale “Magrathea” comes from a small but growing photo-ID catalogue (42 individuals) of this Critically Endangered whale at #SouthGeorgia, collected by visitors & researchers

Image by Dr Fredrik Christiansen, Senior Researcher PhD, MSc, BSc Marine Mammal Research, Department of Ecoscience Aarhus University

Our recent study in Ecological Modelling shows that southern right whale mother-calf pairs leave calving grounds once calves reach ~8 m in length, not after a fixed time. Larger, fatter mothers help calves reach departure size faster! 🐋⚡

Read it here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🌐🌏🌱🧪

Marine Mammals in the Anthropocene: Developing a Systematic Evidence Base of Threats to Nineteen Species Marine mammals are vulnerable to a variety of anthropogenic threats, yet a global systematic map of the literature for 19 species found both spatial and temporal disparity in research effort between ....

🚨 NEW PUBLICATION! 🐳🎉

Our new review paper, now published in Mammal Review, maps the the literature focusing on threats to 19 marine mammal species, to summarise volume of research, and highlight knowledge gaps (for species, locations, threats).

Read it here: doi.org/10.1111/mam....

Congratulations!!

Aversive behavioural responses of killer whales to sounds of long-finned pilot whales - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Aversive behavioural responses of killer whales to sounds of long-finned pilot whales

A top predator on the run! New paper on aversive responses of killer whales to the sounds of long-finned pilot whales – out now in Scientific reports – open access: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Below a short summary of the main results.
🔈🐳🤓
#bioacoustics #MarineMammals #whales

Last few days until we close the abstract submission! See you soon in Puerto Rico.
www.smmconference.org/abstract-sub...

What do we know about hybrid blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin (B. physalus) whales? A comprehensive review across ocean basins Hybrids between blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin (B. physalus) whales have been reported since commercial whaling in the late 1800s. Even while species descriptions were still at their infancy, wh...

Preprint: our systematic review of hybrids between blue whales and fin whales. There are 46 possible cases, of which 17 have been genetically confirmed (15 from the North Atlantic!)
doi.org/10.22541/au....

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

YouTube video by Senator Elizabeth Warren We have the power to stop ICE from terrorizing communities and putting lives at risk.

We have the power to stop ICE from terrorizing communities and putting lives at risk.

It’s time for the Senate to step up.

Vector illustration of Megabalaena sapporoensis, a large archaic balaenid whale from the seas around Miocene Japan. The whale is seen from above with its mouth open showing off its baleen. The whale is black with white patches on its belly, back, snout and tail. Text reads: Megabalaena sapporoensis. Yoshihiro Tanaka, Toshiyuki Kimura, Tatsuya Shinmura, Hiroto Ohia and Hitoshi Furusawa. "A new member of a large and archaic balaenid from the Late Miocene of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japam partly fills a gap of right whale evolution". Palaeontologia Electronica 28, no. 2 (2025): 1-59. Aug 21 2025

#Cenozoicpaleo2025 Meet Megabalaena sapporoensis!

#paleoart #vectorart #rightwhale

As the Gulf of St. Lawrence warms, whales are switching up the menu and may be sharing lunch | CBC News New Canadian research, using decades of samples from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, shows that as Arctic krill becomes scarce, fin and minke whales are eating more of the kinds of fish that humpback whales...

As the Gulf of St. Lawrence warms, whales are switching up the menu and may be sharing lunch #Canada

Canadian research suggests some whale species are adjusting their diets to adapt to climate change

www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Dolphins age more slowly with a little help from their friends A study of dolphins’ epigenetic ages found that animals with more high-quality friendships were biologically younger than their lonely peers

A study of dolphins’ epigenetic ages found that animals with more high-quality friendships were biologically younger than their lonely peers