Aquatic Megafauna Research Unit - AMRU

We’re offering this amazing PhD scholarship opportunity if you know anyone who might be appropriate. Applications for Murdoch’s RTP scholarships (essential for you to then access this Top Up Scholarship) close 31 May 2021, so time is short!!!

PhD Scholarship with Murdoch University - Ningaloo As part of Murdoch University’s mid-year Research Training Program (RTP) scholarships for domestic Australian students, we are pleased to announce […]

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-shhhh-whales-resting.html

Shhhh, the whales are resting We need new guidelines to shield whales from human-made noise to ensure them some peace and quiet. It is no good keeping whale-watching boats out of whales' sight if the noise from the boats' engines disturb the whales most. And whales can hear the boats' engines from far away, according to a Danish...

AMRU's Dr Nahiid Stephens was interviewed about a post mortem she carried out on a rare Andrew's Beaked Whale, and her findings. The case has continued to contribute to our understanding of this cryptic species, and the skeleton now resides within the collection of the Western Australian Museum.

Beaked whale skeleton helping scientists The body of a rare whale is allowing scientists to understand both the species and marine pollution after its skeleton was exhumed

Last month, Dr Delphine Chabanne presented some of her work on the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins residing in the Swan Canning Riverpark, . Among her finding, Delphine found that some females residing in the adjacent waters, visited the estuary and were always accompanied by the local males.

Guardians Dolphin Watchers, here is something to look for when observing dolphins in the estuary:
1) See if you can recognise them by matching the dorsal fin of each individual using the . You will find other information for each individual (s*x, age).
2) If you recognise any of the males such as Bottlenose, Hii or Blackwall (see photos below), is there another dolphin you cannot identify? Maybe it is a female from the adjacent waters and Delphine would love to confirm this with you.

The warm summer days make this time of the year the busiest one with many people enjoying the Swan Canning Riverpark with family and friends,

It is also when the risk for dolphins to get injured is higher. This summer, we are also expected a few newborns (at least two). We would therefore like to remind everyone to slow down, keep your distance and don’t get close to dolphins or any marine mammals if boating, jet skiing or even kayaking and swimming.

We wish you all a wonderful end-of-year celebration.

Uni Guardians

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins have been studied for more than a decade in our group, especially in the south west of Western Australia. Today, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assigns the conservation status Near Threatened (NT) to this species. Such status means that Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it doesn't currently qualify for the threatened status.

Check out the link for more information and the different conservation status that IUCN can assign to a species or lower taxa based on research conducted by many scientists.

6 Updated Cetacean Red List Assessments Published in December 2019 – IUCN – SSC Cetacean Specialist Group 19 Dec 2019 6 Updated Cetacean Red List Assessments Published in December 2019 Assessments or reassessments of 6 cetacean species, subspecies or populations were published on the IUCN Red List in December 2019. This is in addition to the 2 published in July 2019, 5 published in March 2019, 35 publis...

Good morning from beautiful sunny Barcelona where we are attended to the World Marine Mammal Conference

A conference bid was getting prepared in the last few months by committee, including Delphine Chabanne, Daniella Hanf, Krista Nicholson, Amanda Hodgson and Simon J Allen (with massive thanks to Perth Convention Bureau)

Vote for Australia to host the Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals for the first time, in 2023! There will be an information stand (booth #308) at the World Marine Mammal Conference in Barcelona this week, so come say G’day!

Come say G'day Vote for Australia to host the Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals for the first time, in 2023.

In less than two weeks, AMRU members will start their journey to attend and share their work with 2,500 attendees at the 2nd World Marine Mammal Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

We are heading to the 2nd World Marine Mammal Science Conference in Barcelona, Spain 0 0 AMRU members are about to join 2 500 attendees at the 2nd World Marin Mammal Science Conference in Barcelona, Spain (9-12 December 2019). During the conference, we will be presenting four oral talks, one speed-talk and three posters (see below for details). In addition, Dr Christophe Cleguer wil...

Check out the work done by DBCA in collaboration with Macquarie University and two of our members Dr Delphine Chabanne and Dr Julian Tyne...

This work was done under permits and trained researchers allowing the drone to fly at low altitude and above the animals for the purpose to collect blow samples.