Breaching Extinction

This is the final episode of Breaching Extinction (for now). This has been an amazing journey. Thank you to everyone who's been a part of it!

In this episode, Erica chatted with Anaïs Remili researcher and founder of Whale Scientist about her recent publication New killer whale research: North Atlantic killer whale diets revealed in unprecedented detail

This week Erica chatted with the one and only Orca Man aka Fred Denisco about his obsession with the movie Free Willy and some behind-the-scenes details about the film

This week Erica chatted with researcher, José Ángel Ortega Borchardt about his recent publication Microplastics in scats of California sea lions on the Gulf of California.

This week Erica chatted with biologist Helena Costa about her recent publication Using a consumer drone for the collection of humpback whale blow samples during the Arctic polar . Helena compares the uses of different commercial drones for the analysis of cetacean blows.

In this week's episode, Erica chatted with researcher Jaclyn Aubin from the Department of Integrative Biology, Windsor, Ontario, Canada about her recent publication Fly with care: belugas show evasive responses to low altitude drone flights. Protection, energetic assistance, or social perks: How do beluga offspring benefit from allocare? Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas

This week Erica chatted with researchers Heidi Pearson from the University of Alaska SE about her recent publication Whales in the carbon cycle: can recovery remove carbon dioxide?

This is the first episode of season 5! Erica and Madi sit down and chat about the future of the podcast and the southern residents using the full extent of their home range. If you are interested working with Breaching Extinction please send us an instagram DM or email Erica at erica@breachingextinction.com

This week Erica chatted with Aricia Duarte-Benvenuto, a PhD student at the Patologia Experimental e Comparada graduate Program of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science – University of São Paulo, Brazil about emerging infections diseases in the amazon river dolphin.  Sources: Hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. in Aquatic Mammals, Amazon Basin, Brazil

This week Erica chatted with Fin Whale Researcher Sacha Viquerat about his recent publication Identifying seasonal distribution patterns of fin whales across the Scotia Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula region using a novel approach combining habitat suitability models and ensemble learning methods.  References:  Branch, T. A., & Butterworth, D. S. (2001). Estimates of abundance south of 60°S for cetacean species sighted frequently on the 1978/79 to 1997/98 IWC/IDCR-SOWER sighting surveys. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 3(3), 251-270. Viquerat, S., & Herr, H. (2017). Mid-summer abundance estimates of fin whales Balaenoptera physalus around the South Orkney Islands and Elephant Island. Endangered Species Research, 32, 515-524. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00832 Burkhardt, E., Van Opzeeland, I., Cisewski, B., Mattmüller, R., Meister, M., Schall, E., Spiesecke, S., Thomisch, K., Zwicker, S., & Boebel, O. (2021). Seasonal and diel cycles of fin whale acoustic occurrence near Elephant Island, Antarctica. Royal Society Open Science, 8(5), 201142-201142. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201142 Herr, H., Hickmott, L., Viquerat, S., & Panigada, S. (2022). First evidence for fin whale migration into the Pacific from Antarctic feeding grounds at Elephant Island. Royal Society Open Science, 9(9), 0-7. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220721

In this week's episode Madi, Liam, and Erica discuss genetic disorders that could impact the pigmentation of cetacean skin  Sources:  Fifty Shades of Gray: The First Leucistic Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Sighting off the Cedar Keys, Florida, Gulf of Mexico

This week Erica chatted with Italian researcher Giovanni Bearzi at Dolphin Biology and Conservation, Italy about his recent publication Marine mammals foraging around fishing gear or preying upon fishing catch and bait: it may not be “depredation”. They discuss the true meaning of the word "depredation" and how it has been used in a scientific context.  Resources: Marine biology on a violated planet: from science to conscience

This week Erica chatted with Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina Erin Meyer-Gutbrod about her recent publication Redefining North Atlantic right whale habitat-use patterns under climate change.

In this week's episode, Erica chatted with William Carome, researcher at the New Zeland Whale and Dolphin Trust about his recent publication A long-term shift in the summer distribution of Hector’sdolphins is correlated with an increase in cruise ship tourism.  Sources:  New Zeland Whale and Dolphin Trust: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

In this week's episode, Erica chatted with Erin Falcone, Biologist at Marine Ecology and Telemetry Research about her most recent publication Movements and residency of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in the California Current System. 

This week Erica chatted with Katie Kowarski Research Scientist at JASCO Applied Sciences about the last chapter of her thesis: Seasonal song ontogeny in western North Atlantic humpback whales: drawing parallels with songbirds. Katie shares her unexpected findings on humpback whale acoustics is the North Atlantic population.  

In this week's episode, we introduced Madison Basford our new porpisode cohost. Erica and Madi had an authentic and vulnerable conversation about overcoming the trials and tribulations of life and the importance of being healthy in order to have a positive impact on the world.  WARNING: This episode contains sensitive topics including but not limited to trauma, cults, abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and religious trauma  Resources:  Brene Brown Consent Tea Jumping Spiders Living with Secrets Podcast Suicide Prevention The Power of Vulnerability (Brene Brown) Trevor Project (LBGT)

This week Erica chatted with Joey Stagnaro a, Santa Cruz local who has been working on the Monterey Bay fishing and whale watching since he was 6 years old. Joey shares a bit of his life story and the changes he has seen though out his time on the bay.

In this week's episode, Erica chatted with Nicole Danaher-Garcia researcher from the Dolphin Communication Project about her recent publication, The partial merger of two dolphin societies. The merging of social groups is rarely seen in terrestrial animals, making this finding rather remarkable and furthering our insight into the complex world of social creatures.

This week Erica sits down with researcher Deborah Vicari to discuss her recent publication regarding the discovery of hybridization between belugas and narwhals using geometric morphometrics on museum specimens. Deborah and her colleagues were able to determine Narlugas do exists by studying their skulls.  Source: Skull ecomorphological variation of narwhals (Monodon monoceros, Linnaeus 1758) and belugas (Delphinapterus leucas, Pallas 1776) reveals phenotype of their hybrids