Philippa Brakes
Recents Posts
Whale culture and conservation: to infinity and beyond …
In 1977, the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft launched, carrying with them the song of humpback whales and greetings in 55 human languages. Why was…
Read MoreCoronavirus and New Zealand dolphins: many questions, few answers
Like people over the world, New Zealanders have recently been faced with a lot of time at home. Fortunately, humans are remarkably resourceful and we…
Read MoreWest African bycaught dolphins provide insights for new method for health assessment
Winners of the 2016 WDC Bharathi Viswanathan Award, Marie-Francoise Van Bressem and colleagues, studied photographs of dolphins bycaught in fishing gear from three Ghanaian ports, to…
Read MoreSperm whale cultural turn-over: moving on out
Decades of research on sperm whales in the Pacific has revealed a most remarkable social event. Researchers have documented the large-scale relocation of cultural groups…
Read MoreWhales and dolphins mourning their dead?
There’s some debate about what biologists call epimeletic behaviour in whales and dolphins. Essentially, this refers to the giving of care or attention to another…
Read MoreNew film looks at the issue of whale and dolphin rights
By All Rights, a new documentary by US filmmaker Stan Minasian, is the first documentary to tackle the issue of whales’ and dolphins’ emerging rights: Rights to…
Read More