Killer Whale Research Ireland - KWRI, University College Cork

28/10/2025

Want to study killer whale behaviour? 🐬

We have an exciting fully funded MSc by Research project focused on the conservation and management of one of the world’s most iconic and endangered marine mammals: the Southern Resident killer whales.

Supervised by:
Professor Darren Croft - Professor of Animal Behaviour and Co-Deputy Head of Psychology Department, University of Exeter
Dr Michael Wiess - Center for Whale Research, USA
Dr Joe Gaydos - SeaDoc Society, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

Working with a collaborative team, the student will work on developing early-warning indicators of killer whale health. The focus will be on behavioural indicators, but the work forms part of a larger collaborative effort to create an integrated, web-accessible health database for the population.

🗓️ Deadline 19th Dec 2025
⏰ Full-time or part-time for 17 months starting Sept 2026.
📍 Based at the University of Exeter Streatham Campus with fieldwork in the USA.
💷 Fully-funded studentship (tax-free stipend of at least £20,780 per year – this is the rate for 25/26 entry)

Applicants must have obtained, or be about to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class UK Honours degree, or the equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK, in an appropriate area of study. We particularly welcome applications from people from under-represented groups in marine science, and especially from individuals indigenous to North America.

Find more details and apply - https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=5721

24/10/2025

Amazing footage of a Biggs killer whale in the NE Pacific trying to 'share' it's food with the people on the boat. So rare to see this but a really interesting publication came out recently where there have been several examples of these killer whales doing this behaviour. Though many may see this as a bit grim cause of the poor dead seal but this behaviour is fascinating in my opinion and similar to cats 'gifting' dead birds and mice to their humans 🤷🏻‍♀️

... but your computer or network may be sending automated queries. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

19/10/2025

Today is World Menopause Day, and did you know that menopause is incredibly rare in the animal kingdom? In fact, only a few species of mammal are known to experience it - and they're nearly all cetaceans! (Humans and some chimpanzees are the only other mammal confirmed to experience menopause!)

**THE MENOPAUSE CLUB:**
🐋 Killer whales
🐋 Short-finned pilot whales (and possibly long-finned pilot whales too)
🐬 Narwhals
🐬 Beluga whales
🐬 False killer whales possibly

𝑩𝑼𝑻 𝑾𝑯𝒀?

The leading scientific theory is the "𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨". Older females stop reproducing but continue to play vital roles in their pods:

👵 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬: Post-reproductive females, particularly in killer whales, act as repositories of ecological knowledge. They lead their pods to feeding grounds, especially in lean years, and their experience is crucial for survival.

🐋 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲: They help raise their grandchildren and other young in the pod, increasing their offspring's chances of survival.

📚 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: They pass on hunting techniques, migration routes, and social behaviours to younger generations.

In killer whale society, older matriarchs are the glue that holds pods together. Studies have shown that when a post-reproductive female dies, her adult sons face significantly increased mortality risk - demonstrating just how vital these experienced females are!

Right here in Orkney waters, we're privileged to see killer whale pods that include these wise matriarchs. The knowledge they carry about our local waters, feeding grounds, and seal populations has been passed down through generations.

On World Menopause Day, we celebrate not just human experience, but the remarkable evolutionary strategy that makes older females so valuable to their communities - both human and cetacean! 💙



---

18/10/2025

These two boys really get around. John Coe and Aquarius from the West Coast Community spotted along the east coast of Scotland..... They've been sighted here in the past so not strictly seen only off the west coast but sightings aren't as frequent off the east. Great pics taken by CRRU. Aquarius spent several weeks in Donegal Bay during the summer while John Coe was missing for a few months sparking fear his days were numbered but alas the two boys found each other again last month in the Hebrides. They really are a wonder and any sightings of them should be treasured as they are old and sadly, the last two remaining individuals of their community.

27/09/2025

I am very excited to share my first, FIRST-AUTHOR scientific paper, is published today in Frontiers in Marine Science! 🤩 This work is the culmination of my research during my master’s degree. I aimed to gain a better understanding of how killer whales interact with commercial fisheries around the world, as well as the policy and management solutions available to address this issue.

In my review of existing scientific literature and other publications, I reached several conclusions:

1. Killer whale interactions with fisheries are widespread; they occur in all oceans and involve various gear types (but especially longlines).

2. There are two primary types of interactions: depredation (removal of catch or bait directly from fishing gear) and commensalism (feeding on spilled catch/bycatch/discards/other animals attracted to fishing activities)

3. Both interaction types can result in injury or death for killer whales, but they differ in their economic impacts on fisheries and the risk of fisher retaliation.

4. There are considerable knowledge gaps and research biases that hinder our understanding of these interactions.

5. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for addressing fishery interactions with killer whales; however, we can enhance our approach by incorporating more concepts from the social sciences.

The entire process of researching, writing, and revising took more than a year, and it was HARD. But thanks to the support from my co-authors, I’m really happy with how everything turned out.

The best part? It’s open-access, so there are no paywalls! Anyone can read it online 🥳 There’s a lot in here that can’t fit in a post or infographic, so please check it out! ⬇️

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2025.1629516/full

15/09/2025

Great news that John Coe and Aquarius from the West Coast Community have reunited after several months apart!

🥳John Coe and Aquarius reunite in the Hebrides!🥳

These two iconic killer whales haven’t been seen together for months, and many have been wondering how they will find each other.

With massive thanks to our friends at Hebrides Cruises and one of our Trustees, Indy Greene, who investigated the report form a local fisher, we are delighted to confirm they have been seen together this afternoon near the Small Isles.

Much of what we know about these animals is thanks to sightings like this that come through our incredible Whale Track community. Your sightings and reports help us monitor these remarkable whales 🐋

Keep your eyes on the water and your reports coming in – every single sightings makes a difference and adds a piece to the puzzle about what we know about these animals!

📷Indy Greene

01/07/2025

21/06/2025

Graduation day! Yesterday was the big day and what a wonderful day it was, the sun was splitting the stones in UCC👩🏻‍🎓🐬 So many people to thank for making this day happen, my family, my supervisors Prof. Emer Rogan, Dr Thomas Reed, Prof. David Reid, my funders (Irish Research Council , Marine Institute of Ireland Marine Institute - Foras na Mara , the Irish mackerel skippers who took me onboard 🌊⛴️ and their crew members, all in the School of BEES Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, UCC and in Food Science, UCC who helped out, to Dr Andrew Foote who was amazing throughout, to all my amazing research assistants, and colloborators particularly Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, Icelandic Orcas, Norwegian Orca Survey, HWDT, IWDG, Scottish Natural Heritage, all the citizen scientists sharing their killer whale sightings online or directly to me. If I forgot anyone, I apologise. It takes a host of people to get PhDs across the line and to all involved some way or another, I just want to say a big thank you, it was a long journey but got there in the end and you helped make that happen.. THANK YOU 🙏🙌☺️🤗💕🎓 🐬🌊