News Releases
Prey-tell: Why Right Whales Linger in the Gulf of Maine
WHOIÃÂs Mark Baumgartner finds that the location, the length of stay, and perhaps the very abundance of the whales may be dependent on an interesting vertical migration pattern by the copepods on which the whales feed. It seems to be a case, he said, of ÃÂhow the behavior of the prey influences the behavior of the whales.ÃÂ
Read MoreHal Caswell Wins Humboldt Research Award
Hal Caswell, a senior scientist in the Biology Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), was awarded a 2010 Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn,…
Read MoreSkip This Cocktail Party: Contaminants in Marine Mammals’ Brains
The most extensive study of pollutants in marine mammals’ brains reveals that these animals are exposed to a hazardous cocktail of pesticides such as DDTs and PCBs, as well as…
Read MoreWHOI Team Aids Center for Coastal Studies in Whale Disentanglement
On Monday, May 4, a team of researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was working in the Great South Channel 40 miles east-southeast of Chatham, Mass., when they…
Read MoreRight whale sedation enables disentanglement effort
On Friday, March 6, 2009, for the first time ever, a North Atlantic right whale that had been severely entangled in fishing gear, was administered a sedation mixture that made…
Read MoreNew Marine Mammal Center Formed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has announced the formation of a new center for marine mammal research and conservation studies. The center combines scientific expertise, state-of-the-art facilities, and technological…
Read MoreCheetahs of the Deep
A new study has revealed that pilot whales are “the cheetahs of the deep sea,” making high-speed, all-or-nothing dives to chase and catch large prey before surfacing to catch their…
Read MoreNew Whale Detection Buoys Will Help Ships Take the Right Way through Marine Habitat
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have teamed up with an international energy company and federal regulators to listen for and help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales in New England waters.
Read MoreHal Caswell Receives First Per Brinck Oikos Award
The Per Brinck Foundation has selected biologist Hal Caswell of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), as the first recipient of the Per Brinck Oikos Award, which recognizes extraordinary and important contributions to the science of ecology.
Read MoreShould Every Stranded Dolphin or Seal Be Saved?
A sick or injured seal or dolphin is found stranded on a beach. Should limited marine mammal protection funds be spent to rehabilitate the animal, or would they be better…
Read MoreNovel digital device is used to help prevent boat collisions with manatees
Searching for better ways to protect this endangered species, a team of researchers from Florida turned to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for help in understanding how the animals behave underwater.
Read MoreMonitoring Baleen Whales with Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
Like robots of the deep, autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, are growing in number and use in the oceans to perform scientific missions ranging from monitoring climate change to mapping…
Read MoreEndangered North Atlantic Right Whale Study Says Population in Crisis
Ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are threatening the survival of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered whales with an estimated population of about 350. …
Read MoreWhat is That in the Water?
As summer vacations approach, beachgoers might want to bring along a guide to what they and their children will see on the beach and in the water. WHOI scientists and…
Read MoreWhere Currents Collide and Marine Mammals Gather
Cape Hatteras, where the Gulf Stream veers off the continental slope into the deep ocean and heads toward Europe, will be the site of two intensive surveys in August 2004…
Read MoreEndangered North Atlantic Right Whale Study Shows Sharp Decline in Mothers
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) report in today’s issue of the journal Nature that the population growth rate of North Atlantic Right whales has declined below replacement level because of increased mortality rates of mothers. The population numbers only about 300 and is predicted to become extinct within 200 years if the environmental conditions experienced by the whales in 1995 were maintained.
Read MoreStudy to Assess Risk Factors of Vessel Collisions with Endangered Northern Right Whales
Scientists and engineers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their colleagues will use a new digital recording tag to study and assess the risk factors of vessel collisions with the endangered Northern right whale. Less than 300 of the whales remain.
Read MoreNew Model Suggests Northern Right Whale Population on Path to Extinction
The North Atlantic northern right whale, considered to be the most endangered large whale species, is headed for extinction unless human intervention improves survival, according to a new study by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Massachusetts, Boston (UMASS Boston). Their report, the first to obtain rigorous statistical estimates of survival probability of this population, was published today in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
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