PacMam Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

After 4 years of the PacMam podcast this will be our last episode! We have enjoyed bringing you marine mammal highlights, interviews, and journal reviews. Although this is the end of the podcast, you will be able to interact with us in other platforms! We will be focusing our outreach in other areas, like our YouTube channel, so be sure to keep up with us there and stay tuned for other updates. But join us for this episode as we recap the awesome things we did this year, and what we are looking forward to next year!

One of the biggest questions about harbor porpoises is if the stocks we currently manage are truly one large population, or if there are smaller distinct units within a geographic area. DNA can help answer this question, but getting samples from harbor porpoises using traditional routes (i.e. biopsy darting), is very difficult. That's where eDNA comes in! Scoop some seawater from where an animal just dove, and you can snag some skin cells and extract the DNA. Using eDNA along with previously published data and tissue samples from stranded animals, this paper reveals the community/population structure of harbor porpoises in Alaska, with some intriguing results! Listen to learn more!

Paper is open access and available here:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.17563

Donate to help our work!

www.pacmam.org/donate

Join Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) scientists to learn about different marine mammals each episode!

We discuss a little about the biology, behavior and fun facts about each species. Have fun and learn about marine mammals with PacMam!

www.pacmam.org

This week: Pygmy Sperm Whale

Presenters: Cindy Elliser, Katrina MacIver

Music by Josh Burns

Sources:

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/pygmy-sperm-whale

https://us.whales.org/whales-dolphins/species-guide/pygmy-sperm-whale/

https://www.acsonline.org/pygmy-sperm-whalehttps://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/pygmy-sperm-whale/

https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/pygmy_sperm_whale

New Research

• Benites-Palomino et al 2019 New bulky faced pygmy sperm whale from the late Miocene of Peru https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2019.1728538

• Song et al 2017: Influence of air-filled structures on wave propagation and beam formation https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article-abstract/142/4/2443/853827/The-influence-of-air-filled-structures-on-wave?redirectedFrom=fulltext

• Staudinger et al 2013 – Foraging ecology and niche overlap in pygmy and dwarf in US mid-Atlantic coast https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mms.12064

• Brentano and Petry 2020 – Marine debris ingestion and human impacts in Brazil https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X1930743X

• Erwin et al 2017 – High diversity and unique composition of gut microbiomes https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07425-z

Microplastics are a hot topic right now in many areas of science. We are finding plastic everywhere, and in animals around the world - even in the deepest parts of the ocean.  Microplastics are small, often microscopic pieces of plastic.  The question now is how are this type of plastic affecting our oceans, the animals in it, and us?  In this paper researchers looked at microplastic abundance in bottlenose dolphins in South Carolina, spoiler - they found them!  But there is more to this story (and where you may find microplastics), so join us to find out more!

Paper available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X20307955

Help us continue to provide content like this by donating: https://pacmam.org/wp/donate/

Join Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) scientists to learn about different marine mammals each episode! We discuss a little about the biology, behavior and fun facts about each species. Have fun and learn about marine mammals with PacMam!  

This week: Whale poop and whale falls (when a whale dies and sinks in deep water)!  Did you know that whale poop can help us combat climate change, and even after a whale dies they are an important part of the marine ecosystem (some species are only found where whales die and sink)?  Join us to learn all about it!    

Presenters: Cindy Elliser, Katrina MacIver, Trevor Derie  

Music by Josh Burns

Many seals (especially young juveniles/pups) in Atlantic waters have stranded with odd spiral, or corkscrew, lacerations.  There have been many hypotheses over the years as to how these injuries occurred, but researchers have recently uncovered the truth, and it was suprising to say the least.  Join us as we discuss how the mystery was solved, who was the culprit (spoiler: grey seals!), what else researchers have discovered (evidence for cannabalism for one!) and why this is important to understand for the health of all species involved.

Warning: the description of the attacks may be graphic for some listeners (we note this in the podcast so you know when it is coming up)

Referenced papers available at:

Brownlow et al. 2016 (open access): https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0156464

van Neer et al. 2019: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385110118303368

Help us continue to provide content like this by donating: https://pacmam.org/wp/donate/

Join Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) scientists to learn about different marine mammals each episode! We discuss a little about the biology, behavior and fun facts about each species. Have fun and learn about marine mammals with PacMam!  

This week: Foraging strategies: bottlenose dolphin edition!  Bottlenose dolphins have a lot of different, unique, ways to catch their prey.  Here we highlight some of the coolest (we think) foraging strategies from bottlenose dolphin populations around the world.   

Presenters: Cindy Elliser, Katrina MacIver, Trevor Derie  

Music by Josh Burns

Join us as we talk with Michelle Greenfield, the founder and host of the new podcast, Aquadocs!  We are chatting with Michelle about her story, how she got to where she is, how she became interested in marine mammals, and aquatic medicine in general and learn about all the different ways you can work in this field.  We also learn what a typical day in the life of an aquatic vet looks like - spoilers, it can be very different depending your animal subjects and very interesting! So join us as we delve into the world of aquatic medicine, of course with an emphasis on marine mammals!  

Be sure to check out Michelle's podcast at: https://anchor.fm/aquadocs and http://www.aquadocspodcast.com/about.html

Help us continue to provide content like this by donating: https://pacmam.org/wp/donate/

Join us as we talk about a recent paper that was published this year about postmortem attentive behavior (PAB) by humpback whales toward a deceased gray whale calf.  This type of behavior is rarely observed in mysticetes (baleen whales), and the fact that it was between 2 different species makes it even more unique.  Why would humpback whales be interested in a gray whale calf recently killed by killer whales (who were still feeding on the carcass)?  Is there a benefit to the humpback whales to do this, or is it just curiosity? Is this something that happens more often, it is just we aren't there to observe it?  Join us as we ponder these questions and discuss this unique event! 

Check out the article here: https://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/

Help us continue to provide content like this by donating: https://pacmam.org/wp/donate/

Sponsorships: on for this episode

Join Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) scientists to learn about different marine mammals each episode! We discuss a little about the biology, behavior and fun facts about each species. Have fun and learn about marine mammals with PacMam!  

This week: Foraging strategies: Sperm whales, crabeater seals and gray whales!  There are a lot of different ways to catch your prey, here we highlight some of the more unique strategies some pretty cool marine mammals use.   

Presenters: Cindy Elliser, Katrina MacIver, Trevor Derie  

Music by Josh Burns