How to eat an octopus without using your hands

What do predators do when the prey is too big to be swallowed whole? It really depends on the size, texture and shape of the targeted victim but, generally speaking, it goes through some form of “processing” before being consumed.
Different animals around the world have found clever, interesting, and at times dangerous ways, of handling their game. In the oceans, leopard seals thrash seal pups and seabirds to break them down into smaller, more digestible chunks. …

California is still burning and I can feel it down in my throat

California is still burning this morning and I can feel it down in my throat as I wake up in my Los Angeles home. I wash my face and I wonder how some people — including “our” president and his administration — can still deny the role of human-induced climate change even when racing flames have now scorched an area almost as big as Connecticut.

I sip some coffee while my eyes catch a headline in the Washington Post: “The World Health Organization on Sunday reported the highest one-day increase in coronavirus infections since the pandemic began: more than 308,000 new cases. …

Keeping dolphins in captivity is not acceptable anymore

I have spent much time in the company of wild dolphins over the last thirty years. I’ve built a career following their everyday movements and observing their behavior from research boats. When I began my studies, I knew these creatures primarily as the objects of my research but, as the years passed, I came to recognize them as single individuals, not solely for their unique dorsal fin notches, but also for their cognitive abilities, personalities and emotions.

Spending thousands of hours at sea, I began to know some of them by sight, and like my human friends, they became an integral part of my life. I learned of their needs, not only for space but also for companionship. And I witnessed their fluid, complex societies, which in many ways are quite similar to our own. …

A political change must happen now if we hope to slow ecological collapse

For over three decades, I have conducted scientific and conservation research on wild marine mammals in different parts of the world. Over the years, with thousands of hours at sea in the company of dolphins and whales under my belt, I’ve grown increasingly worried about these creatures and their ecosystems.

As a scientist, I know that stopping climate change must be at the top of my priorities because it is the most pressing threat our Planet is facing today.

The hard question is: What can I do about it? …

King penguins emit so much laughing gas, scientists get… comic relief!

Antarctic King penguins are not only known for being the second largest species of penguins and skilled divers, reaching depths of 300 meters (900 ft). Now, these tuxedo-clad wobblers living in large colonies are getting their minute of fame for pooping out so much laughing gas to make researchers go cuckoo!

How do we actually know this?
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen were interested in understanding the effect of glacier retreat and penguin activity on greenhouse gas emissions. …

Learn simple and easy ways to better explain science to non-scientists

Many scientists have a bad tendency: they often speak in a way that is incomprehensible to the general public.

I know what I am talking about because I am a scientist.

In our defense, traditional scientific training doesn’t typically prepare us to be effective communicators outside academic circles. Scientific peer-reviewed papers are frequently written in language that would require a translator to be grasped by a non-specialist, and even in every day conversations, we can easily slip into speaking in technical terms as soon as the conversation turns anywhere toward our respective field of expertise. We often sound boring!

For a marine biologist like myself, the need to directly engage the public and effectively disseminate information is becoming imperative due to the critical and complex environmental issues our oceans now face. Traveling the world as a whale and dolphin field researcher, I’ve witnessed first-hand the loss of biodiversity and habitat degradation.
I now believe that research is no longer enough and scientists increasingly need to engage in conservation efforts. The more I’ve learned, the more I feel compelled to tell as many people as I can about my experiences in company of animals, and most importantly, about the pressing need to protect them and the environment in which they live. …

Have you ever wondered where dolphins go after you get a glimpse of them as they surf a wave or catch a bow-ride off a boat? I did.

Bottlenose dolphins off California, one of the marine mammal species I’ve studied in this stretch of the Pacific Ocean for over two decades now, are known to occur here in two distinct forms. There are coastal bottlenose, usually frequenting shallow waters less than one mile from the shore, and offshore bottlenose, found primarily in deeper pelagic waters. …

Yes, other animals can teach too

“Why do you study dolphins?” an enthusiastic student asks me as we walk through the metal detectors at his high school in a poor neighborhood of Los Angeles. I was invited here to give a talk to his class about my experiences as a marine biologist and the current problems facing local dolphins and their habitat.

I tell him how, at the beginning, I was motivated mainly by the naïve curiosity of a nature-lover drawn toward dolphins and their underwater world. …