Dr Michelle LaRue

Beautiful!

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The best!

This is a fair point

Very sad news showing that even world heritage status does not protect from a disease 😔

Yes I did not, in fact, boop the snoot but it was hard

Oh no!
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Literally

Yes that’s right!

Weddell seal pup looks into the camera as it lays on the snow

Weddell seal pups can be curious if you’re sitting next to them quietly. Here, we were collecting a scat sample and the little one leaned a bit closer to see what I was doing.

Permit # ACA 2025-010, AMLR LARUE2025
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Can Animal Super-Agers Teach Us Their Secrets? Some animals seem to defy the rules of aging. Understanding how they do it could help us live longer, healthier lives.

Imagine never showing signs of aging and having zero risk of cancer. This is the reality for some animals, and now, scientists are exploring their secrets. 🐋 🦇

It’s an incredible place: beautiful and unforgiving

Yep that’s me! I’m an Associate Professor and I don’t have a YouTube channel. Keep encouraging your young scientist, it’s a fun job!

A scientist holds a small vial and looks at the Weddell seal pup near her feet

I love Weddell seals so much I will pick up their poop and put it in a small vial just so I can get a chance to be near them and watch them hanging out on the ice.
(AMLR permit to LaRue 2025)

Also the cute of this pup was TOO MUCH.
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A Weddell seal pup looks at the camera, with overlaid text that says “All 10 seal tags are now deployed!@

We have deployed satellite tracking devices on all our animals now (10 seals and 10 penguins), plus collected feathers, blood, whiskers, etc., for more information about the animals.
ACA Permit 2025-010

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We do!

Off the top of my head we have Waffles, Tim Tam, Jimmy, and Sam!

And it is only very temporary!

10 close-up photos of satellite tags on emperor penguins with a text box in the middle that says, “VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE”

Here are the satellite tags attached to the penguins who will be carrying them for the next several months. Do you have a favorite?! Tell us!

AMLR permit to LaRue 2025

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A bunch of emperor penguins right near the camera with text overlay that says “surveying for bird flu involved lots of… birds. Curious, adorable birds.”

We captured 18 birds today and then we surveyed the colony for bird flu, which we thankfully saw no evidence of.

Cape Crozier remains magical!
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Ground‐truthing of satellite imagery to assess seabird colony size: A test using Adélie penguins Adélie penguin colony size can be estimated from space using very high-resolution (VHR; 0.3–0.6 m resolution) satellite imagery due to the contrast between their guano stain and the surrounding terra...

Hot off the press at Remote Sensing in Ecology & Conservation is Alexandra Strang’s latest paper!

Alexandra discovered there’s a caveat in using imagery to detect change at Adélie penguin colonies: Small population change is undetectable 🧪🌎🦑🦉

zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Mount Erebus, with wispy clouds

One of my favorite sights, Mount Erebus on Ross Island. Seeing it from this vantage point usually means we are in a training (survival, field training) and getting ready to go do some fun things. Cape Crozier, here we come!
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Five people bundled up in cold weather gear stand on the ice in front of a military cargo plane, in Antarctica

K051 (my “event number”, the unique identifier for each science project) made it to Antarctica! Flew on a C17, only delayed by an hour, too. Thanks US Air Force and Antarctica NZ, now the fun begins.
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This is SUCH an important point. Most people are worried about climate change: but most people feel helpless and think nothing’s being done (so why should they do anything?)

This is why my weekly newsletter always includes good news on climate solutions as well as actions we can take!

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Green turtle rebounds, moving from ‘endangered’ to ‘least concern’ The green turtle, found across the world’s oceans, is recovering after decades of decline, according to the latest IUCN Red List assessment. The species has been reclassified from endangered to least…

Green turtle rebounds, moving from ‘endangered’ to ‘least concern’

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

WOW! Our survey of scientists who stopped using Twitter and started using Bluesky is now the #1 most-shared on social media article in the history of the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology! Thanks for reading it, everyone! @sicbjournals.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/icb/... 🧪

Climate Analyst Climate Analyst

New Zealand - Aotearoa folks and otherwise interested folks: The Auckland Council has an opening for a Climate Analyst careers.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/job/Central-...

They are my favorites

Weddell seal mom and pup laying on sea ice, napping peacefully

A Weddell seal mom wearing a hat* and taking a snooze next to her wonderfully-fed pup. They will continue to chill here together until mid-December when the pups wean and mom heads to the ocean to forage and regain mass.

*satellite tracking device
AMLR permit to LaRue 2024
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