Denise Herzing

Denise Herzing, the Founder and Research Director of the Wild Dolphin Project, is known for her pioneering studies on communication with free-ranging dolphins. She is one of the few marine mammal researchers who employ a non-invasive approach to studying wild dolphins in a natural setting.

Denise has completed over 33 years of her long-term study of the Atlantic spotted dolphins inhabiting Bahamian waters. And her focus on underwater behavior allows her to uncover information and insight into the dolphins not available through surface observations.

You can watch her TED talk here.

Denise received her B.S. in Marine Zoology; her M.A. in Behavioral Biology; and her Ph.D. in Behavioral Biology/Environmental Studies. And she is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.

She is a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow, a fellow with the Explorers Club, a scientific advisor for the Lifeboat Foundation and the American Cetacean Society, and on the board of Schoolyard Films.

In addition to many scientific articles, she is the coeditor of Dolphin Communication and Cognition, author of “Dolphin Diaries: My 25 years with Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas” and “The Wild Dolphin Project (2002)”.

Coverage of her work with the spotted dolphins has appeared in National Geographic Magazine 1992 and 2015, BBC Wildlife, Ocean Realm and Sonar magazines and featured on Nature, Discovery, PBS, ABC, BBC, NHK, PBS, and TED2013.

Denise has spoken at the Society for Marine Mammalogy, European Cetacean Society, International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Explorers Club, TED2013, Boston Museum of Science, American Cetacean Society, and others.