Breaching Extinction
By Erica Wirth
Breaching Extinction Jul 17, 2020
Podcast FINale!!
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!
128. North Atlantic Killer Whale Diets
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
127. Free Willard
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
126. Microplastics in Sea Lion Scat
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.
0.47 Lolita and other Shenanigans
Lolita and other rants
125. Using Consumer Drones to Conduct Research
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.
124. Fly With Care
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
123. Can Whales Help Fight Climate Change?
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?
122. SRKW's in Monterey and Life Updates
If you are interested working with Breaching Extinction please send us an instagram DM or email Erica at erica@breachingextinction.com
0.46 Lolita
In this week's porpisode Liam, Madi and Erica discuss Lolita a captive Southern Resident Killer Whale
0.45 Grandpas Knob
In this week's porpisode Madi, Liam and Erica talk about the history of wind farms and their current impact on cetaceans
Sources:
121. Exploring Emerging Infectious Diseases
Sources:
Hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. in Aquatic Mammals, Amazon Basin, Brazil
0.45 420 Blaze Animals Getting High
In this week's porpisode Madi educates intoxicated Erica and Liam about a variety of animals that get high ;)
120. Antarctic Fin Whale Distribution
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
119. Humpback Whale Song Cultural Transmission
In this week's episode Erica chatted with biologist Josephine Schulze about her recent publication, Humpback whale song revolutions continue to spread from the central into the eastern South Pacific.
0.43 Frech Polynesian Whales and Things
In this week's propside Erica, Madi, and Liam discuss Madi's recent trip to French Polynesia among other things.
Sources
https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2007/330/m330p257.pdf
http://seaturtle.org/library/GannierA_2004_AquatMamm.pdf
118. Blue Whale Mom Calf Pair response to Vessel
In this week's episode, Erica chatted with Mari Smultea about her recent publication Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) mother-calf pair behavioral response to vessel in the Southern California Bight. Aquatic Mammals.
Resources:
Mother Calf Whale Nursing and Other Behavior
Sperm Whale Ramming a Vessel in the Pacific
First Recordings of Humpback Whale Sounds, Hawaii
First Video of Wild Beluga Socio-sexual Behavior in Cook Inlet, AK
117. Science Meets Pop Culture
In this week's episode Madi, Liam, and Erica discuss genetic disorders that could impact the pigmentation of cetacean skin
Sources:
0.42 Whale Trends?
Salmon and Mola hats? Could this possibly be a trend for whales? Madi, Liam and Erica dive into potential orca trends in porpsiode!
116. Deconstructing Depredation
Resources:
Marine biology on a violated planet: from science to conscience
115. Climate Change Impacting Right Whales
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.
0.41 Holy Guaca-mola
This week Madi and Erica did a porpisode briefly discussing the Ocean Sunfish
114. What the hec is going on with hectors dolphin?
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
113. Science, Skepticism and Truth
In this episode Erica, Liam and Madi discuss what credible science looks like and how to find legit sources for information.
Resources:
What Makes Science Science (NPR)
Understanding Science UC Berkley
112. Fin Whale Residency
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.
0.40 Stellar Sea Cow
111. Jingle Bells
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.
110. Vulnerabili(tea)
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)
109. Fishing and Whale Watching in Monterey Bay
0.39 It's Giving Goodbye
In our final porpisode with Kendra, we finish the last four chapters of Listening to Whales by Alexandra Morton. We highly recommend this book to anyone interested in whales or a story about perseverance.
Warning: For some reason, we started talking about explicit around minute 28, so if you don't want to hear that, stop lis tening then.
108. Merging for Dolphin Societies
107. Narluga Morphology
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:
0.38 Sunken Ship and Badass Woman
This week Liam and Erica talked about the progress in regard to an oil spill as a result of the vessel sinking with 2,600 gallons of off fuel near SJI. They also discussed chapters 17-19 of Listening to Whales by Alexandra Morton.
Note: We uploaded the wrong episode last week, whoops :)
106. Orca Sound Citizen Science
This week Erica interviewed Scott Veirs founder of Beam Reach and co-founder of the Orcasound.net initiative about his new citizen science program, allowing more people to access acoustic data from the Salish Sea.
0.37 Warrior Woman and Ego
This week Liam, Kendra, and Erica discussed topics related to Chapters 14-16 of Listening to Whales by Alexandra Morton including sustainability and evolving perspectives
0.36 Captivity and Whale Pride
In this weeks episode Kendra, Liam and Erica dove into chapter 11, 12, and 13 of Alexandra Mortons Listening to Whales.
0.35 Sea Doo
In this week's episode Liam, Kendra, and Erica dove into chapters 5 & 6 of Listening to Whales by Alexandra Morton. They also covered recent SRKW news regarding the Biden administration weighing in breaching the Lower Snake River dams, a new K pod calf, and the recent declaration of vulnerability in 13 individual Southern Residents.
More Sources:
https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/about/regulations/filings/2022/WSR%2022-14-068.pdf
105. Kracken the Code to Octopus Conservation
This week Erica sat down with Dennis Fukushima, lead biologist at the Octopus Farm about their approach to octopus conservation and the state of octopus in Hawaii. He also shares his thoughts on how we can be better stewards of conservation.
104. Lead With Your Faith Not Your Fear
About The Whale Trail:
Where the Whales Are: Discovering Marine Mammals from Shore Along the Pacific Coast (Washington Post 2020)
Humans are so loud marine safaris might soon be on land (Daily Beast 2021)
About Southern Resident Orca Recovery:
Nearby Vessels Interrupt Feeding of Southern Resident Killer Whales, Especially Females (Holt et al 2021)
Columbia Basin salmon, Snake River dams and Southern Resident Orcas (NOAA Fisheries 2020)
Southern Resident Killer Whales and Snake River Dams (NOAA Fisheries 2016)
Southern Resident Orca Task Force Final Report and Recommendations (2019)
Southern Resident Orca Recovery - Washington State Website
Give them Space! voluntary pledge campaign for boaters to stay 1,000 yard/meters away from SRKW.
My book about Springer!
Orca Rescue! The true story of an orphaned orca named Springer (Kids Can Press 2021)
103. Orca Diet Estimates and Scientific Accessibility
This week Erica chatted with Orca Researcher Anaïs Remili about her recent publication, Validation of quantitative fatty acid signature analysis for estimating the diet composition of free‑ranging killer whales. She dove into a new methodology studying whale diets called QFASA, and also discussed her organization Whale Scientists, which aims to highlight young cetacean scientists and help aspiring whale scientists find resources.
Resources:
Anaïs Remili's Website and Twitter
Whale Scientists Website, Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok
Episode 92. Barataria Dolphins, Imposter Syndrome, and Whale Scientist (Episode with her partner Naiomi Mathews)
102. Dales Blue Whales
This week naturalist and local feral man of Alaska, Dale Frink to talk about the time he got thrown into the water by a blue whale. Dale has requested to raise money for the Ocean Defenders Alliance click the link to donate!
0.34 The bae bae
Kendra, Liam, and Erica discuss chapters 3 & 4 of Listening to Whales by Alexandria Morton.
Sources:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/new-state-federal-report-puts-10-27-billion-price-tag-on-lower-snake-river-dam-removal/
101. Hopping into Frog Conservation
This week Erica chatted with Hannah Overbeak and Tay Shoemaker from Project Polywog about their impact-driven business model. They shared the plight of two endangered frogs as well as insight on how they are helping these species both through a frog rescue and frog breeding programs.
100. Homosexuwhale Baleen
This week Erica celebrated our 100th episode and pride month with a special two-part episode. In the first part, she chatted with Kendra Nelson about homosexuwhality in the animal kingdom, as well as their personal experiences being part of the LBGTQ community. For the second part, she chatted with musician and og homie Ambur Wilkerson to write "Baleen" a whale rendition of the iconic Dolly Partons song Joleen.
99. Snake River Savers Protest
This we Erica chatted with Owen Begley-Collier and Lucy Larkin from the Snake River Savers about their upcoming protest in Seattle to remove the Lower Snake River Dams
Snake river savers social media sites:
https://instagram.com/snakeriversavers?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
https://www.facebook.com/snakeriversavers/
https://twitter.com/riversavers?s=21&t=OkJuFQGKoTa5Mc-7NBltag
Washington resident and can’t make the rally? Take action:
Other states take action:
0.33 Loving the Whales to Death
In this weeks porpisode Erica, Liam and Kendra dive into the first two chapters of listening to whales by Alexandria Morton.
98. Normal People Encouraging Normal People to do Extraordinary Things
This week Erica chatted Alex Haraus, an impact producer focused on saving our natural world. Alex talks about how he has used TikTok as a vessel for conserving wild places and shares some of his life experiences and philosophies.
97. It Take a Village
This week Erica chatted with Mumbai researcher and PhD Candidate Ketki Jog about her recent publication Marine Mammal Interactions With Fisheries: Review of Research and Management Trends Across Commercial and Small-Scale Fisheries. Ketki discussed her research and how she used the help of local fishers to collect data. She also shared her insight on how we can be better scientists and stewards of the environment by working together and staying humble.
96. Inking about Squid and Mental Illness
This week Erica chatted with one of her favorite humans Madison Bashford about her novel research tagging and studying market squid at the John Hopkins Marine station during her undergraduate career at California State Monterey Bay. They also have a very real discussion about the role of mental wellness in their personal and professional journeys, as well as larger environmental issues.
95. Exploring the Mystery of Frequency Decline in Blue Whales
In this week's episode, Erica chats with Ally Rice researcher at Scripps Whale Acoustic Laboratory about her most recent publication Update on frequency decline of Northeast Pacific blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) calls. Ally discusses her study and drives into the unexplainable conundrum behind this phenomena and shares current theories for why this may be happening. Erica and Ally also touch on noise pollution and Ally shares advice on how to better care for our environment.