Marine Mammal Science

Marine Mammal Science is a podcast covering some of the latest scientific research on marine mammals – whales and dolphins, polar bears, seals and sea lions, manatees and dugongs, and sea otters. The podcast is produced by Absolutely Smashing Events and Consulting on behalf of the Society for Marine Mammalogy and the journal Marine Mammal Science. The host, editor and producer is Dr. Ashley Scarlett, familiarly known as Dr Scarlett Smash.

Arctic Ecology 01/20/2024

Arctic Ecology Dr Scarlett Smash celebrates the final episode of the MMS podcast with Dr. Chris Parsons. They chat about Arctic life and ecology. If you would like to keep in touch with Dr Scarlett Smash () and would like to keep hearing about marine science research tune into the Marine Conservation Happy Hour podcast. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/29226408

Antarctic ecology 01/13/2024

Antarctic ecology Dr Scarlett Smash celebrates the last two episodes of the MMS podcast with Dr. Chris Parsons. They talk about Antarctic life and ecology. If you would like to keep in touch with Dr Scarlett Smash (), tune into the Marine Conservation Happy Hour podcast /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/29226423

Alejandro Fernandez Ajó 01/06/2024

Alejandro Fernandez Ajó On this episode Dr Scarlett Smash has chats with Dr. Alejandro Fernandez Ajó about his work on hormone analysis of gray whale feces to assess correlations and response to a variety of internal and external stressors. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28894643

Phthalate Exposure 12/30/2023

Phthalate Exposure On this week's episode, Dr Scarlett Smash chat with Dr. Leslie Hart about her work investigating potential health impacts from exposure chemicals like phthalate and looking at plastic pollution/plastic-contaminated prey as a potential source of exposure. H.O.P.E. Research lab (Hypothesizing Onehealth Pollution Effects) "We are a team of undergraduate and graduate students studying the magnitude and impacts of plastic pollution...one dolphin at a time." On instagram: @hoperesearchlab /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28894608

PCFG - Feed behavior 12/23/2023

PCFG - Feed behavior On this episode Dr Scarlett Smash talks to Clara Bird, a phd candidate about her research on the Pacific coast feeding group (PCFG) gray whales' feeding behaviors. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28894638

Pacific Coast Feeding Group History 12/16/2023

Pacific Coast Feeding Group History Dr Scarlett Smash continues to talk to Dr KC Bierlich, a postdoctoral scholar about his drone research on the Pacific coast feeding group (PCFG) gray whales. Dr Bierlich shares the history of the PCFG and what it is like conducting drone research. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28894633

Pacific coast feeding group's morphology and Climate Change 12/09/2023

Pacific coast feeding group's morphology and Climate Change On this episode Dr Scarlett Smash talks to Dr KC Bierlich, a postdoctoral scholar about his research on the Pacific coast feeding group (PCFG) gray whales. Dr Bierlich is investigating the health of whales in a changing climate, with drones. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28894628

Zoop to Poop: Pacific Coast Feeding Group 12/02/2023

Zoop to Poop: Pacific Coast Feeding Group On this episode Dr Scarlett Smash has chats with Lisa Hildebrand, a PhD student at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, about her work analyzing the “summer resident” gray whale sub-species' prey species from their scat. The results were a big surprise! /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28882973

"Summer resident” gray whales 11/25/2023

"Summer resident” gray whales On this episode Dr Scarlett Smash has chats with Dr. Leigh Torres, head of the GEMM Lab, about the health and habitat of the “summer resident” gray whale sub-species. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28674898

Wind Turbines and noise underwater 11/18/2023

Wind Turbines and noise underwater On this episode Dr Scarlett Smash has a conversation with Dr. Jim Miller about offshore wind turbines and cetaceans. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28601793

Working in conjunction with fishing communities in India 11/11/2023

Working in conjunction with fishing communities in India On this episode Dr Scarlett Smash chats with Dr. Dipani Sutaria about engaging fishing communities to mitigate cetacean bycatch in the west coast of India. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28590758

Solitary sociable dolphins 11/04/2023

Solitary sociable dolphins On this episode Dr Chris Parsons chats with Liz Sandeman from Marine Connection about the phenomenon of solitary, sociable dolphins - when single wild dolphins interact with humans. Sadly these situations often come to an unfortunate end for the dolphins. They talk about what to do if one of these dolphins is reported and ways to manage the situation to help protect both the dolphin and humans. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28511027

Fisheries interactions and Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphins, pt 2 10/28/2023

Fisheries interactions and Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphins, pt 2 This week's host Dr Scarlett Smash chats Ketki Jog, PhD candidate, about her research on the impact of fisheries interactions on the foraging behaviour of Indian Ocean humpback dolphins along the Sindhudurg coast of Maharashtra, India. The Marine Mammal Science Podcast is supported by the Society of Marine Mammalogy membership. Join, renew, or become a lifetime member in October for a chance to win a lifetime Society membership ($2400 value) or a free conference registration in Perth, Australia for November 2024. Visit to join or renew now. Interested in sponsoring this podcast? Email us at /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28440413

Fisheries interactions and Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphins, pt 1 10/21/2023

Fisheries interactions and Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphins, pt 1 This week's host Dr Scarlett Smash chats Ketki Jog, PhD candidate, about her research on the impact of fisheries interactions on the foraging behaviour of Indian Ocean humpback dolphins along the Sindhudurg coast of Maharashtra, India. The Marine Mammal Science Podcast is supported by the Society of Marine Mammalogy membership. Join, renew, or become a lifetime member in October for a chance to win a lifetime Society membership ($2400 value) or a free conference registration in Perth, Australia for November 2024. Visit to join or renew now. Interested in sponsoring this podcast? Email us at /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28318742

Sea Otters and Surfboards 10/14/2023

Sea Otters and Surfboards This week's host Dr Chris Parsons chats to Dr Naomi Rose (Senior Scientist, Animal Welfare Institute) as spate of recent attacks on surfboards by a sea otter. They also talk about issues and problems with the public trying to interact with wild marine mammals. The Marine Mammal Science Podcast is supported by the Society of Marine Mammalogy membership. Join, renew, or become a lifetime member in October for a chance to win a lifetime Society membership ($2400 value) or a free conference registration in Perth, Australia for November 2024. Visit to join or renew now. Interested in sponsoring this podcast? Email us at /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28298822

How bottlenose dolphin mothers communicate with their calves 10/07/2023

How bottlenose dolphin mothers communicate with their calves On this episode Dr Scarlett Smash chats with Dr Laela Sayigh about her work with bottlenose dolphin signature whistles and the similarities of motherhood in nonhuman mammals. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28244705

Advocacy and Iberian orcas 09/30/2023

Advocacy and Iberian orcas On this episode Dr Naomi Rose about how scientists have come together to try to correct the misinformation about the orca population interacting with boats off of Spain and Gibraltar. They also talk about how letter writing to policy makers can be an important tactic for advocating for science. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28176803

Toxoplasma gondii 09/23/2023

Toxoplasma gondii On this week's episode Dr Scarlett Smash chats with Dr Sophie Zhu about the detection and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii in feces from feral cats in central coastal California, that can be harmful to marine species. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28114388

Rhythm under the sea, pt 2 09/16/2023

Rhythm under the sea, pt 2 On this week's episode Dr Scarlett Smash chats with Dr Taylor Hersh about her exciting work on Sperm whale clanes and identity codas. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/28041291

Rhythm under the sea, pt 1 09/09/2023

Rhythm under the sea, pt 1 On this week's episode Dr Scarlett Smash chats with Dr Taylor Hersh about her exciting work on ceatacean's vocalization and communication. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27935268

Extinction Alert: Vaquita! 09/02/2023

Extinction Alert: Vaquita! In this episode guest Mark Simmonds tells us about the plight of the vaquita and the recent “Extinction Alert” issued by the International Whaling Commission – a plea to galvanize urgent international Governmental action to try to save the most critically endangered marine mammal in the world. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27873777

By-catch mitigation in small-scale fisheries preliminary analysis, pt 2 08/26/2023

By-catch mitigation in small-scale fisheries preliminary analysis, pt 2 On this week's episode Dr Scarlett Smash chats with Shanta Shamsunnaha, a PhD student at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, who shares her perspective and experience starting her Phd research on transdisciplinary approaches for by-catch mitigation in small-scale fisheries. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27831174

By-catch mitigation in small-scale fisheries preliminary analysis, pt 1 08/19/2023

By-catch mitigation in small-scale fisheries preliminary analysis, pt 1 On this week's episode Dr Scarlett Smash chats with Shanta Shamsunnaha, a PhD student at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, who shares her perspective and experience starting her Phd research on transdisciplinary approaches for by-catch mitigation in small-scale fisheries. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27734199

The Vaquita, pt 2 08/12/2023

The Vaquita, pt 2 Dr. Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho updates host Dr. Chris Parsons with the latest news of the world’s most critically endangered cetacean, the Vaquita or Gulf of California harbor porpoise. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27600171

The Vaquita, pt 1 08/05/2023

The Vaquita, pt 1 Dr. Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho updates host Dr. Chris Parsons with the latest news of the world’s most critically endangered cetacean, the Vaquita or Gulf of California harbor porpoise. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27600105

How to conserve Franciscana dolphins 07/29/2023

How to conserve Franciscana dolphins Dr Alex Zerbini, Chair of the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee, chats about the threatened franciscana dolphin and current efforts to conserve this vulnerable marine mammal. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27444759

Hector's and Maui's dolphins 07/22/2023

Hector's and Maui's dolphins In this episode Dr Liz Slooten of Otago University, New Zealand, talks about the plight of the threatened Hector's and Maui's dolphins. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27443508

Underwater noise and seismic surveys 07/15/2023

Underwater noise and seismic surveys In this episode guest Michael Jasny, the Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's marine mammal program chats about underwater noise, the threat posed by oil and gas exploration and a new US bill that could have devastating impacts on marine mammals /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27443190

Cetaceans in Lakshadweep, India, pt 2 07/08/2023

Cetaceans in Lakshadweep, India, pt 2 On this week's episode Dr Ashley Scarlett (Dr Scarlett Smash) has an exciting chat with Dr. Divya Panicker about her work on cetacean diversity and distribution in the Lakshadweep islands in India. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27402234

Cetaceans in Lakshadweep, India, pt 1 07/01/2023

Cetaceans in Lakshadweep, India, pt 1 On this week's episode Dr Ashley Scarlett (Dr Scarlett Smash) has an exciting chat with Dr. Divya Panicker about her work on cetacean diversity and distribution in the Lakshadweep islands in India. /episode/index/show/marinemammalscience/id/27333918

Marine Mammal Science

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