Peter Tyack
Peter Tyack said: “My parents had me sleeping in the sail bag of a daysailer in Manchester Harbor at seven months old, and I have always loved going to sea. Intrigued by animal behavior and wanting to do field research, I went to Harvard in the early 1970s, as the fields of behavioral ecology and sociobiology came of age. I initially majored in biological anthropology, fascinated by primate social behavior. But a course with WHOI biologist William Schevill on cetaceans convinced me that marine mammals were just as fascinating and offered many more unexplored research opportunities. From then on, I studied acoustic communication and social behavior of whales and dolphins. Donald Griffin and Roger Payne made it possible for me to do Ph.D. research at Rockefeller University on the songs of humpback whales. After that, I came to WHOI, where I have happily worked ever since.”
