Are you a marine mammal biologist or student who also wants to advocate for the protection of marine mammals from exploitation? In this webinar, five scholar-advocates for marine mammals explore this issue with you and offer advice on how you, too, can be a scientist and an effective advocate for marine mammals both free-ranging and captive. Read more.
Remember Keiko, the captive whale who became famous from the “Free Willy” films? Rescued from an entertainment park in Mexico, Keiko was returned to his native waters of Iceland in 1998. Two members of the Whale Sanctuary Project were key members of Keiko’s team. Join them for a fascinating conversation. Read more.
Lori Marino talks with Dr. Valeria Vergara, from Ocean Wise Conservation in Vancouver, about her studies of beluga whale communication. They’ll chat about Valeria’s groundbreaking work on mother-calf communication and her findings that beluga calves babble a lot like human babies. Read more.
Jean-Michel Cousteau and Whale Sanctuary Project Executive Director Charles Vinick discuss their 40 years of collaboration, ocean advocacy, and the protection of whales.
They also talk about what became the biggest whale rescue in history: the return of 97 whales to the ocean after they had been illegally captured in Russia for sale to marine parks. Read more.
What we’ve discovered about cetacean brains in recent decades has rewritten our understanding of how complex intelligence evolves. Every year, we’re learning more and more about the cognitive powers of these animals. But be careful: you may fall in love with cetacean brains, too!
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Whales Without Walls – the story of our work to create a seaside sanctuary for whales from marine entertainment parks – is the subject of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s online series “Film Talk.” A conversation with the Whale Sanctuary Project’s Executive Director Charles Vinick.
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Pioneering dolphin researcher Dr. Denise Herzing and Whale Sanctuary Project President Dr. Lori Marino explore the world of dolphin societies, communication and personhood.
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There are already sanctuaries for elephants, primates, bears, big cats, and many others. Now sanctuaries for dolphins, whales and porpoises are joining the movement and becoming the clear alternative to life in the concrete tanks of marine entertainment parks. In this webinar we explore the growing global movement of wildlife sanctuaries with representatives from three taxa: elephants, great apes and cetaceans.
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What's multibeam sonar? How about an ADCP? Or a benthic survey? Water and sediment sampling (OK, that's an easy one!) Spend an hour with Charles and Amanda and you'll know what the Whale Sanctuary team has been doing in the bay at Port Hilford.
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Chimpanzees are used in invasive biomedical research as well as cognitive-behavioral studies. Captive dolphins are used primarily in cognition studies. We discuss why they should both be retired to sanctuaries and how this can be accomplished.
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The Free Willy films of the early 90’s were box office hits, but after the filming the real-life orca Keiko was left to languish in a small tank at an amusement park in Mexico City. But that was not the end of the story. Join this remarkable discussion of Keiko’s return to the ocean and his legacy today.
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Dr. Lori Marino will be speaking on the topic of "The Whale Sanctuary Project: Scholar Advocacy in Action at the conference of the American Cetacean Society."
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