Today we’re looking at two stories that show how bioacoustics research is helping us better understand the lives of marine mammals — and we take a listen to some of the recordings informing that research.

We’re big fans of bioacoustics here at the Mongabay Newscast — it’s a fascinating way to learn about wildlife and nature. Two recent studies that caught our eye help show why it’s such an exciting — and growing — field of inquiry.

Our first guest is Erin Ross-Marsh, the lead researcher behind a study of humpback whales at the Vema Seamount in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Africa. Ross-Marsh tells us about the study’s finding that these humpbacks were making gunshot calls, a type of non-song call that was previously unknown in these particular whales, and plays some humpback songs, non-song calls, and gunshot calls for us to listen to.

We also speak today with Sarah Trabue, a research assistant with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Ocean Giants Program who is the lead author of a recently published paper detailing the findings of a bioacoustic study of bottlenose dolphins in the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary. Trabue tells us what the study reveals about dolphin behavior in the highly trafficked waters of New York Harbor and plays for us some of the dolphin vocalizations recorded as part of the study.

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Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

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