Built for Speed, the Minke Whales are Mysterious

Tuesday, November 11 at 7 p.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall

— from Jean Lyle for the SeaDoc Society —

The elusive Minke whale. Photo courtesy of Jared Towers

The SeaDoc Society & YMCA Camp Orkila Present:Jared Towers on Minke Whales

When you see a photo of a minke whale, you usually don’t see much. A bit of curving back. A small dorsal fin.

But there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. Minkes are the smallest baleen whales in the North Pacific Ocean, averaging 26 to 29 feet in length, but also one of the fastest of all the whales and dolphins. They are estimated to live for 30-60 years, are normally solitary, and prefer to spend time in very specific habitats where they forage on small schooling fishes.

And there’s a lot we don’t know. Jared Towers is involved in several cutting edge research projects with minke whales, including investigations into their population structure, their habitat use, and their vocal repertoire.

Jared is a cetacean expert with the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Research Director at MERS, the Marine Education and Research Society, a non-profit that studies whales and dolphins in BC and around the world.

The talk is free and takes place at 7 p.m. on November 11 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church’s parish hall in Eastsound.

—

The 2014-15 Marine Science Lecture Series is designed to inspire the general public and to highlight the amazing fish and wildlife of our region. Lectures are free.

The Lecture Series is presented by program partners The SeaDoc Society and YMCA Camp Orkila. It has been made possible through generous sponsorship by Tom Averna (Deer Harbor Charters), Barbara Brown, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Audrey and Dean Stupke, West Sound Marina, WWW Foundation (Bryce and Sue Rhodes), and Martha Wyckoff in honor of Lee Rolfe.  For more information visit https://www.seadocsociety.org/events