Marine Vertebrate Ecology Lab

We are currently seeking expressions of interest from PhD candidates to join the MAVE Lab at the University of Wollongong, NSW,...

One of the most fundamental pieces of information about individuals (including dolphins) is their age. In biology studies, scientists need to know how old an animal is to understand many aspects of its life history and, for example, to estimate the viability of a population. But estimating an animal’s age is no easy feat when its date of birth is unknown. Because there is no universal indicator for the aging process, it is especially difficult to age long-lived animals. In th

Stranding events (also known as beaching) involving cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) have been documented since the 4th century. Originally, people considered stranded cetaceans a gift from the gods, providing food and other resources. However, today’s society has mostly shifted its vision of strandings to animals in need of human help. Most stranding events will involve single animals, but mass strandings involving up to hundreds of animals can occur in some locat