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Beluga Babble: A Conversation with Dr. Valeria Vergara
August 13, 2020 @ 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM EDT
Belugas are known for their rich communicative style and the wide variety of sounds they make, earning them the nickname “canaries of the sea.”
Lori Marino talks with the newest member of the Whale Sanctuary Project team, Dr. Valeria Vergara, from Ocean Wise Conservation Association in Vancouver, about her years-long studies of beluga whale communication. They’ll chat about Valeria’s groundbreaking work on beluga whale mother-calf communication and her findings that beluga calves babble a lot like human babies.
Valeria has also found that belugas possess signature calls that function like individual names. She’ll show us some of her ongoing field research with the belugas of the St. Lawrence Estuary in Canada and how she is trying to understand how sound pollution affects the ability of mothers and calves to stay together in this endangered population. And Lori will ask Valeria about the ways her research might be applied to learning about how captive belugas adapt to a seaside sanctuary.
Join us for a fascinating conversation with this leading scientist in beluga whale communication and behavior.
Register for the webinar here.
Bring your questions or send them in advance by email.
And then join us on Thursday, August 13th at 3:30 pm EDT