Pronounced dive responses through peripheral vasoconstriction and bradycardia enable prolonged apnoea in marine mammals. For most vertebrates, the dive response is initiated upon face immersion, but little is known about…
Anthropogenic effects have created various risks for wild animals. Boat traffic is one of the most fatal risks for marine mammals. Individual behavioral responses of cetaceans, including diving behavior such…
Odontocetes have evolved a rich diversity of prey- and habitat-specific foraging strategies, which allows them to feed opportunistically on locally and temporally abundant prey. While habitat-specific foraging strategies have been…
Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) are protected in the UK by the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). Understanding the impact of anthropogenic pressures is fundamental for effective protection under this act…
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are regularly monitored to assess how they are impacted by the construction and operation of offshore wind farms. A suitable method to do this is passive…
Bycatch is a significant cause of population declines of marine megafauna globally. While numerous bycatch mitigation strategies exist, acoustic alarms, or pingers, are the most widely adopted strategy for small…
The most common cetacean in the North Sea is the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Underwater noise is increasingly recognized as a source of impact on the marine environment and seismic…
Research on the welfare of captive odontocetes has increased in recent years, but has been mostly focused on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Few studies investigated potential welfare indicators using quantitative…
Although the use of fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGCM) measurements as non-invasive biomarkers for the stress response in mammals has increased, few studies have been conducted in odontocetes. We investigated if…
Breathing rates are often collected both in the wild and in captivity to inform on cetaceans' internal state. However, few studies have investigated the effect of various factors on this…