Talk on Humpback Whales

Humpback whale in Oregon waters.\Photo by Rena Olson.

The American Cetacean Society, Oregon Chapter’s online speaker series continues with “Beyond Song:  Exploring Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Calls on the Hawaiian Breeding Grounds.”  The event takes place on Saturday, Sept. 11, at 10 a.m., and is free and open to all.  Registration is required—to register, go here. 

The speaker is Sabena Saddiqui, a PhD student in Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute, where she is studying Arctic cetacean communication.  Her fascination with animal communication led her to become involved in projects involving manatee cognition and cetacean communication and distribution in locations such as Egypt, the Bahamas, Florida, the North Atlantic, and Hawaii. She began studying humpback whale communication at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, and she recently completed her master’s project in Hawaii on humpback whale calls on the Hawaiian breeding ground. Sabena is also involved with non-profit work as a board member of the American Cetacean Society (ACS). She has served as the organization’s Student Chair for ten years, and represents the organization at the International Whaling Commission.

In her talk, Saddiqui will summarize research into humpback whale calls off Hawaii, using underwater video and audio recordings.  This project explored the relationship between these calls and humpback social group and subsurface behavior.