Free Discovery Lecture - Underwater Lives of Risso's Dolphins in CA Waters

Discovering the Underwater Lives of Risso's Dolphins in California Waters by Dr. Ari Friedlaender, UC Santa Cruz

to receive free parking and join us before the lecture for a special members-only reception with the speaker!

Risso's dolphins are one of the most commonly sighted odontocete cetaceans in Monterey Bay and around the Channel Islands with sightings and even necropsies being promoted for more than 100 years. While they have been consistently observed in Monterey Bay for more than a century, their appearance around the Channel Islands and Southern California coincided with an apparent regime shift after a large El Nino event roughly 30 years ago. Over the past 15 years, dedicated research has focused on using a combination of biologging tags and active acoustics to better understand the foraging behavior of these deep-diving dolphins with an emphasis on understanding how their behavior relates to that of their main prey, mesopelagic squid.

Ari S. Friedlaender, PhD is a Professor in the Ocean Sciences Department at UC Santa Cruz and a Faculty Fellow at the UCSC Institute for Arts and Sciences. Ari has led a long-term ecological research program in Antarctica for nearly 30 years to understand how climate-driven changes affect the foraging behavior and health of baleen whales. Ari and his research are featured in more than 20 documentary films and television shows including National Geographic, BBC, Netflix, NOVA, and the Discovery Channel.

Parking is $1 per hour, but FREE for members - !