Dolphins and Whales News

February 17, 2026

Top Headlines

Zombie Worms Are Missing and Scientists Are Alarmed

Dec. 28, 2025 When researchers lowered whale bones into the deep ocean, they expected zombie worms to quickly move in. Instead, after 10 years, none appeared — an unsettling result tied to low-oxygen waters in the region. These worms play a key role in breaking ...

New Fossils in Qatar Reveal a Tiny Sea Cow Hidden for 21 Million Years

Dec. 12, 2025 Fossils from Qatar have revealed a small, newly identified sea cow species that lived in the Arabian Gulf more than 20 million years ago. The site contains the densest known collection of fossil sea cow bones, showing that these animals once thrived ...

New Research Uncovers Hidden Divide in West Coast Killer Whales

Nov. 20, 2025 Scientists confirmed that West Coast transient killer whales actually form two separate groups split between inner and outer coastal habitats. Inner-coast whales hunt smaller prey in shallow, maze-like waterways, while outer-coast orcas pursue large ...

Atlantic Dolphins Are Dying Much Younger. Scientists Sound the Alarm

Oct. 22, 2025 Common dolphins in the North Atlantic are living significantly shorter lives, with female longevity dropping seven years since the 1990s. Researchers found this decline by analyzing stranded dolphins, revealing a 2.4% drop in population growth ...

Strange New Hybrid Bird Spotted in Texas Backyard

Sep. 20, 2025 In Texas, biologists have documented an extraordinary bird — the natural hybrid offspring of a green jay and a blue jay. Once separated by millions of years of evolution and distinct ranges, the two species were brought together as climate change ...

Why Most Whale Sharks in Indonesia Are Scarred by Humans

Aug. 28, 2025 Whale sharks in Indonesia are suffering widespread injuries, with a majority scarred by human activity. Researchers found bagans and boats to be the biggest threats, especially as shark tourism grows. Protecting these gentle giants may be as simple ...

Mining the Deep Could Mute the Songs of Sperm Whales

June 24, 2025 Exploration for deep-sea minerals in the Clarion Clipperton Zone threatens to disrupt an unexpectedly rich ecosystem of whales and dolphins. New studies have detected endangered species in the area and warn that mining noise and sediment could ...

Cannabis Pangenome Reveals Potential for Medicinal and Industrial Use

May 29, 2025 Scientists analyzed almost 200 cannabis genomes to create the most comprehensive, high-quality, detailed genetic atlas of the plant to date. The atlas reveals unprecedented diversity and complexity within the species, sets the stage for advances in ...

Oldest Whale Bone Tools Discovered

May 28, 2025 Humans were making tools from whale bones as far back as 20,000 years ago, according to a new study. This discovery broadens our understanding of early human use of whale remains and offers valuable insight into the marine ecology of the ...

Surprise Baby Whale Sightings Reveal There's Still Much to Learn About Humpbacks

May 20, 2025 Humpback whales are not always born in tropical waters, new research has shown -- challenging long-held assumptions about their breeding and migration behaviors, while raising new questions for ...

Ancient Poems Tell the Story of Charismatic River Porpoise's Decline over the Past 1,400 Years

May 5, 2025 Endemic to China's Yangtze River, the Yangtze finless porpoise is known for its intelligence and charismatic appearance; it looks like it has a perpetual smile on its face. To track how this ...

'Extremely Rare Event': Bone Analysis Suggests Ancient Echidnas Lived in Water

May 4, 2025 New research questions the evolutionary history of some of our most peculiar ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:47am EST

How Gene Loss and Monogamy Built Termite Mega Societies

Jan. 31, 2026 Termites did not evolve complex societies by adding new genetic features. Instead, scientists found that they became more social by shedding genes tied to competition and independence. A shift to ...

Whales and Orcas Were Carrying Viruses No One Knew Existed

Jan. 6, 2026 Researchers studying Caribbean whales and orcas have discovered two new viruses not previously observed in these animals. The viruses were found using advanced genetic sequencing of archived samples, ...

Killer Whales Perfect a Ruthless Trick to Hunt Great White Sharks

Nov. 3, 2025 In the Gulf of California, a pod of orcas known as Moctezuma’s pod has developed a chillingly precise technique for hunting young great white sharks — flipping them upside down to paralyze and ...

Dolphins May Be Getting Alzheimer’s from Toxic Ocean Blooms

Oct. 11, 2025 Dolphins washing up on Florida’s shores may be victims of the same kind of brain degeneration seen in humans with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers discovered that cyanobacterial toxins—worsened ...

Tiny Ancient Whale With a Killer Bite Found in Australia

Aug. 13, 2025 An extraordinary fossil find along Victoria’s Surf Coast has revealed Janjucetus dullardi, a sharp-toothed, dolphin-sized predator that lived 26 million years ago. With large eyes, slicing teeth, ...

Mammals Didn't Walk Upright Until Late—here's What Fossils Reveal

June 25, 2025 The shift from lizard-like sprawl to upright walking in mammals wasn’t a smooth climb up the evolutionary ladder. Instead, it was a messy saga full of unexpected detours. Using new bone-mapping ...

Killer Whales Use Seaweed Tools in Never-Before-Seen Grooming Behavior

June 24, 2025 Southern resident killer whales have been caught on drone video crafting kelp tools to groom one another—an unprecedented behavior among marine mammals. This suggests a deeper social and cultural ...

Whales Blow Bubble Rings--And They Might Be Talking to Us

June 7, 2025 Humpback whales have been observed blowing bubble rings during friendly interactions with humans a behavior never before documented. This surprising display may be more than play; it could represent ...

Deciphering the Migratory Behavior and Connectivity of Mediterranean and Atlantic Cory's Shearwaters

May 3, 2025 A good wildlife management plan must include information on their migratory processes if the conservation of a species, particularly an endangered ...

New and Surprising Traction Trait in Sculpin Fish

Apr. 23, 2025 Researchers discovered tiny features on sculpins' fins which may enable them to cling firmly in harsh underwater ...

Earlier Headlines

From Bacterial Immunity to Plant Sex

Apr. 9, 2025 Could it be that one of only three known markers directly targeting the DNA does not exist outside the realm of microbes? Now, researchers have demonstrated that this marker -- N4-methylcytosine ...

Galapagos Birds Exhibit 'Road Rage' Due to Noise

Mar. 20, 2025 A new study has discovered that birds in the Galapagos Islands are changing their behavior due to traffic noise, with those frequently exposed to vehicles showing heightened levels of aggression. ...

Scientists Map Neural Wiring of Vocal Circuits in Songbirds

Mar. 18, 2025 Researchers have mapped the long-range synaptic connections involved in vocal learning in zebra finches, uncovering new details about how the brain organises learned vocalisations such as ...

Unique Dove Species Is the Dodo of the Caribbean and in Similar Danger of Dying out

Mar. 17, 2025 Ancient DNA shows an endangered dove species endemic to Cuba is more genetically distinct than the dodo was before it died ...

Discovery: The Great Whale Pee Funnel Moves Vital Nutrients

Mar. 10, 2025 Scientists have discovered that whales move nutrients thousands of miles -- in their urine -- from as far as Alaska to Hawaii. These tons of nitrogen support the health of tropical ecosystems and ...

The Changing Chorus: How Movements and Memories Influence Birdsong Evolution

Mar. 7, 2025 New research has provided fresh insights into how bird songs evolve over time, revealing a significant role for population dynamics in shaping song diversity and change. The findings are based on an ...

Genetic Mixing: The Secret to Killer Whale Resilience and Adaptability

Mar. 4, 2025 Killer whale populations in low latitudes have high genetic diversity despite having low population densities, as a result of genetic mixing, which plays a crucial role in their survival and ...

Naturally Occurring Mechanism Hampers Fertility

Mar. 3, 2025 A research team has uncovered how a naturally occurring biological mechanism found in mammals is able to prevent sperm cells from interacting with an egg, preventing fertilization. The discovery, ...

Drone Captures Narwhals Using Their Tusks to Explore, Forage and Play

Feb. 28, 2025 Using drones, 17 distinct behaviors of narwhals were captured in the wild. Findings reveal complex behaviors of the Arctic's iconic whale never seen before. This highly gregarious whale uses its ...

Eavesdropping on Whale Songs Sparks New Discoveries in Whale Ecology

Feb. 26, 2025 Eavesdropping on baleen whale songs in the Pacific Ocean reveals year-to-year variations that track changes in the availability of the species they forage on, according to a new ...

Underwater Mics and Machine Learning Aid Right Whale Conservation

Feb. 21, 2025 Using underwater microphones and machine learning (ML), researchers have developed a new method to estimate North Atlantic right whale numbers -- offering a potentially safer and more cost-effective ...

Unraveling the Mystery of the Missing Blue Whale Calves

Feb. 21, 2025 Only two births of a blue whale have ever been recorded. Mother and calf pairs are also sighted much more rarely than might be expected. The reason, new research suggests, has to do with where and ...

Scientists Optimize Biohybrid Ray Development With Machine Learning

Feb. 14, 2025 The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT, announced the publication of research showing an application of ...

How Fruit Flies Flit Between Courtship and Aggression to Fight for Mates

Feb. 13, 2025 Male fruit flies don't just sing to their mates; they also use sound-cancelling wing-flicks to jockey with rivals. This new understanding of how male flies compete for female partners could shed ...

Scientists Harness AI to Help Protect Whales, Advancing Ocean Conservation and Planning

Feb. 11, 2025 Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that will help predict endangered whale habitat, guiding ships along the Atlantic coast to avoid them. The tool is designed to prevent ...

Some Species of Baleen Whales Avoid Attracting Killer Whales by Singing Too Low to Be Heard

Feb. 6, 2025 New research finds some baleen whale species call at such deep frequencies that they're completely undetectable by killer whales, which cannot hear sounds below 100 hertz. These also tend to be ...

Whale Poop Contains Iron That May Have Helped Fertilize Past Oceans

Feb. 6, 2025 A recent theory proposes that whales weren't just predators in the ocean environment: Nutrients that whales excreted may have provided a key fertilizer to these marine ecosystems. Oceanographers ...

White Shark Liver Is on Australian Killer Whales' Menu, Genomic Evidence Confirms

Feb. 1, 2025 DNA evidence has confirmed killer whales in Australia hunted a white shark for its liver. Based on DNA analysis from the bite wounds on the carcass of a large white shark washed ashore near Portland ...

Uncovering the Role of Y Chromosome Genes in Male Fertility in Mice

Jan. 23, 2025 Researchers have uncovered which genes on the Y chromosome regulate the development of sperm and impact fertility in male mice. This research could help us understand why some men don't produce ...

Grass Surfaces Drastically Reduce Drone Noise Making the Way for Soundless City Skies

Jan. 22, 2025 Porous land such as foliage significantly lowers noise made by drones and air taxis which could reduce disturbances for urban communities as Urban Air Mobility (UAM) ...