Sources

Lesson 1 · Mammals that chose the ocean

Articles and studies

1. A diminutive new basilosaurid whale reveals the trajectory of the cetacean life histories during the Eocene (2023) – Communications Biology
2. Basilosaurus, the “King of Lizards” (2020) – Whale Scientists
3. Hippos and Whales: Unlikely Cousins (2017) – Royal Ontario Museum
4. Science Word of the Day: Involucrum (2015) – National Geographic
5. Pakicetus (2022) – EBSCO Research Starters
6. From Land to Water: the Origin of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises (2009) – Evolution: Education and Outreach
7. New Protocetid Whale from the Middle Eocene of Pakistan: Birth on Land, Precocial Development, and Sexual Dimorphism (2009) – PLoS ONE
8. Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India (2007) – Nature
9. The Origin of Whales and the Power of Independent Evidence (2000) – NCSE
10. Phylogenetic relationships among cetartiodactyls based on insertions of short and long interspersed elements: Hippopotamuses are the closest extant relatives of whales (1999) – PNAS
11. The evolution of whales – Understanding Evolution, UC Berkeley

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)
2. Spying on Whales (2018) – Nick Pyenson
3. The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins (2015) – Hal Whitehead & Luke Rendell

Lesson 2 · Built for water

Articles and studies

1. A Whale of a Tail: Unraveling the evolutionary secrets of how whales and dolphins adapted their backbones for aquatic life (2024) – Harvard University
2. The Biological Productivity of the Ocean (2012) – Nature Education
3. Species review of Cuvier’s beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris (2011) – International Whaling Commission
4. 5.1 Properties of Water – Introduction to Oceanography
5. Properties of Water – ResearchGate
6. Whales – Smithsonian Ocean
7. The loudest voice in the animal kingdom – BBC Earth
8. Do whales and dolphins have hair? – Whale and Dolphin Conservation
9. Mammal – ScienceDirect Topics

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)
2. The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins (2015) – Hal Whitehead & Luke Rendell
3. Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales (2000) – Mann, Connor, Tyack & Whitehead (eds.)

Lesson 3 · Two great lineages

Articles and studies

1. Cetaceans Have Complex Brains for Complex Cognition (2007) – PLoS Biology
2. Intro to Odontocetes & Mysticetes (2017) – Ocean Conservation Research
3. Vaquita – NOAA Fisheries
4. Intelligence, Cognition and Emotion in Cetaceans – The Whale Sanctuary Project
5. Are Whales Sentient? The Scientific Evidence (2026) – Biology Insights

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)
2. Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales (2000) – Mann, Connor, Tyack & Whitehead (eds.)

Lesson 4 · Underwater living

Articles and studies

1. Nursing Behavior in Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) (2023) – Animal Behavior and Cognition
2. Fight or flight: antipredator strategies of baleen whales (2008) – Mammal Review
3. Cetacean sleep: An unusual form of mammalian sleep (2008) – Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
4. Lactation in Whales and Dolphins: Evidence of Divergence Between Baleen- and Toothed-Species (1997) – Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia
5. [TITLE MISSING] – PubMed Central
6. Blue Whale Life Cycle: Birth, Growth, and Lifespan (2026) – Science Insights
7. Intelligence, Cognition and Emotion in Cetaceans – The Whale Sanctuary Project

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)

Lesson 1 · The blue whale

Articles and studies

1. Colossal ears? How baleen whales hear low-frequency sound (2025) – Hearing Research
2. Blue whales (2020) – Current Biology
3. Insight into the kinematics of blue whale surface foraging through drone observations and prey data (2020) – PeerJ
4. Balaenoptera musculus (Blue Whale) (2018) – IUCN Red List
5. A pulsed-air model of blue whale B call vocalizations (2017) – Scientific Reports
6. Worldwide decline in tonal frequencies of blue whale songs (2009) – Endangered Species Research
7. Studying How Cetaceans Use Sound to Explore Their Environment (1997) – Perspectives in Ethology
8. Blue Whale – NOAA Fisheries
9. Blue whale – International Whaling Commission

Lesson 2 · The humpback whale

Articles and studies

1. Southern Ocean humpback whales are shifting to an earlier return migration (2025) – Scientific Reports
2. Study finds humpback whales only ones capable of bubble-net feeding (2025) – University of Hawaiʻi
3. Whales always had voices. Roger Payne helped the world hear them (2023) – Greenpeace
4. Why Send Whale Song Into Space? (2017) – Literary Hub
5. Humpback whales interfering when mammal-eating killer whales attack other species: Mobbing behavior and interspecific altruism? (2017) – Marine Mammal Science
6. Cultural revolution in whale songs (2000) – Nature
7. How do the ventral grooves of rorquals function? – Baleines en direct

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)
2. The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins (2015) – Hal Whitehead & Luke Rendell

Lesson 3 · Right whales

Articles and studies

1. Extreme longevity may be the rule not the exception in Balaenid whales (2024) – Science Advances
2. Decadal decline in maternal body condition of a Southern Ocean capital breeder (2023) – Scientific Reports
3. Saving the North Atlantic right whale in a changing ocean: Gauging scientific and law and policy responses (2020) – Ocean & Coastal Management
4. Remote Acoustic Monitoring of North Atlantic Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) Reveals Seasonal and Diel Variations in Acoustic Behavior (2014) – PLoS ONE
5. Swim Speed, Behavior, and Movement of North Atlantic Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in Coastal Waters of Northeastern Florida, USA (2013) – PLoS ONE
6. Dangerous dining: surface foraging of North Atlantic right whales increases risk of vessel collisions (2011) – Biology Letters
7. Observations of a Female North Atlantic Right Whale in Simultaneous Copulation with Two Males: Supporting Evidence for Sperm Competition (2005) – Aquatic Mammals
8. 10 Things You Should Know About North Atlantic Right Whales – NOAA Fisheries
9. Protecting North Atlantic right whales from collisions with vessels in the Gulf of St. Lawrence – Transport Canada

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)

Lesson 4 · Gray whales

Articles and studies

1. An extremely rare gray whale was spotted in the Atlantic. Scientists say it’s only the beginning. (2024) – National Geographic
2. Fish Feeding and Rapid Foraging Behavior Switching by Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in California (2024) – Aquatic Mammals
3. Effects of vessel traffic and ocean noise on gray whale stress hormones (2022) – Scientific Reports
4. Natal origin of Namibian grey whale implies new distance record for in-water migration (2021) – Biology Letters
5. Migrating eastern North Pacific gray whale call and blow rates estimated from acoustic recordings, infrared camera video, and visual sightings (2019) – PLoS ONE
6. Tongue and Hyoid Musculature and Functional Morphology of a Neonate Gray Whale (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Eschrichtius robustus) (2015) – The Anatomical Record
7. What Happened to Gray Whales during the Pleistocene? The Ecological Impact of Sea-Level Change on Benthic Feeding Areas in the North Pacific Ocean (2011) – PLoS ONE
8. Gray whales may increase feeding opportunities for avian benthivores (2008) – Marine Ecology Progress Series
9. Fight or flight: antipredator strategies of baleen whales (2008) – Mammal Review
10. Side-scan sonar estimates of the utilization of gray whale feeding grounds along Vancouver Island, Canada (1986) – R. Kvitek & J. Oliver

Lesson 5 · The bowhead whale

Articles and studies

1. DNA repair and anti-cancer mechanisms in the long-lived bowhead whale (2023) – bioRxiv (preprint)
2. Accuracy of the Aspartic Acid Racemization Technique in Age Estimation of Mammals and the Influence of Body Temperature (2018) – NAMMCO Scientific Publications
3. Oral cavity hydrodynamics and drag production in Balaenid whale suspension feeding (2017) – Semantic Scholar
4. Insights into the Evolution of Longevity from the Bowhead Whale Genome (2015) – Cell Reports
5. The transcriptome of the bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus reveals adaptations of the longest-lived mammal (2014) – Aging
6. Hydrodynamic and Sensory Factors Governing Response of Copepods to Simulated Predation by Balaenid Whales (2012) – Semantic Scholar
7. Models of hydrodynamic flow in the bowhead whale filter feeding apparatus (2004) – Journal of Experimental Biology
8. Observations on the Ice-Breaking and Ice Navigation Behavior of Migrating Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) near Point Barrow, Alaska, Spring 1985 (1988) – JSTOR

Lesson 6 · Filter feeding

Articles and studies

1. How Baleen Whales Feed: The Biomechanics of Engulfment and Filtration (2017) – Annual Review of Marine Science
2. Metabolic Expenditures of Lunge Feeding Rorquals Across Scale: Implications for the Evolution of Filter Feeding and the Limits to Maximum Body Size (2012) – PLoS ONE
3. Mechanics, hydrodynamics and energetics of blue whale lunge feeding: efficiency dependence on krill density (2011) – Journal of Experimental Biology

Lesson 1 · Dolphins

Articles and studies

1. Some Dolphins Use Tools to Hunt, Revealing Insights Into Cultural Transmission (2025) – Georgetown University
2. Episodic-like memory in common bottlenose dolphins (2022) – Current Biology
3. Evidence that bottlenose dolphins can communicate with vocal signals to solve a cooperative task (2021) – Royal Society Open Science
4. Fine-scale sociality reveals female–male affiliations and absence of male alliances in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Shannon Estuary, Ireland (2019) – Marine Mammal Science
5. Decades-long social memory in bottlenose dolphins (2013) – Proceedings of the Royal Society B
6. Bottlenose dolphins can use learned vocal labels to address each other (2013) – PNAS
7. Cognitive skills in bottlenose dolphin communication (2013) – Trends in Cognitive Sciences
8. Dolphin cognition (2004) – Current Biology

Books

1. The Animal Ethics Reader (2003) – Armstrong & Botzler (eds.)

Lesson 2 · Sperm whale

Articles and studies

1. Sperm whale clans and human societies (2024) – Royal Society Open Science
2. Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations (2024) – Nature Communications
3. Sperm Whale Phonetic Alphabet Proposed for the First Time (2024) – Project CETI
4. Deep Machine Learning Techniques for the Detection and Classification of Sperm Whale Bioacoustics (2019) – Scientific Reports
5. Diving and Feeding Behaviour of Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea (2004) – Aquatic Mammals
6. The face that sank the Essex: potential function of the spermaceti organ in aggression (2002) – Journal of Experimental Biology
7. Research – Project CETI

Lesson 3 · Beaked whales

Articles and studies

1. Navigating the unknown: assessing anthropogenic threats to beaked whales, family Ziphiidae (2024) – Royal Society Open Science
2. Behavioural Ecology Traits of Elusive Deep-Diver Whales Unravel a Complex Social Structure Influenced by Female Philopatry and Defence Polygyny (2022) – Frontiers in Marine Science
3. Fear of Killer Whales Drives Extreme Synchrony in Deep Diving Beaked Whales (2020) – Scientific Reports
4. Diving behaviour of Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (2019) – Royal Society Open Science
5. Advances in research on the impacts of anti-submarine sonar on beaked whales (2019) – Proceedings of the Royal Society B
6. Microplastic and macroplastic ingestion by a deep diving, oceanic cetacean: The True’s beaked whale Mesoplodon mirus (2015) – Environmental Pollution
7. No mass strandings since sonar ban (2013) – Nature
8. Beaked whales respond to simulated and actual navy sonar (2011) – PLoS ONE
9. Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: what do the historical data show? (2009) – Aquatic Mammals
10. Extreme diving of beaked whales (2006) – Journal of Experimental Biology
11. Elements of beaked whale anatomy and diving physiology and some hypothetical causes of sonar-related stranding (2006) – Journal of Cetacean Research and Management
12. Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic sound on beaked whales (2005) – Journal of Cetacean Research and Management

Lesson 4 · Pilot whales

Articles and studies

1. Life History Parameters, Sociobiology, and Reproductive Strategies of Pilot Whales (2023) – Sex in Cetaceans (book chapter)
2. Ritual Slaughter: The Tradition of Pilot Whale Hunting on the Faroe Islands (2021) – Frontiers in Veterinary Science
3. Underlying environmental factors and geomagnetic fields linked to 45 pilot whales Globicephala macrorhynchus stranding in Modung white beach, Indonesian coast on 19th February 2021 (2021) – bioRxiv (preprint)
4. Vocal repertoire of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) in northern Norway (2017) – Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
5. The Mass Stranding Event of Long-finned Pilot Whales at Golden Bay in February 2017 (2017) – Kokako
6. Mobbing-like behavior by pilot whales towards killer whales: a response to resource competition or perceived predation risk? (2015) – Acta Ethologica
7. Pilot Whales Attracted to Killer Whale Sounds: Acoustically-Mediated Interspecific Interactions in Cetaceans (2012) – PLoS ONE
8. Satellite tracking of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) following stranding and release in Tasmania, Australia (2012) – Wildlife Research
9. The role of synchronized swimming as affiliative and anti-predatory behavior in long-finned pilot whales (2012) – Behavioural Processes
10. Synchronous breathing by pilot whales (2012) – Marine Mammal Science

Lessons 5–6 · Porpoises & River dolphins

Articles and studies

1. Estimating the abundance of the critically endangered Baltic Proper harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) population using passive acoustic monitoring (2022) – Ecology and Evolution
2. A case of playful interaction between Bolivian river dolphins with a Beni anaconda (2022) – JSTOR
3. River Dolphins Spotted in Rare Playful Interaction With a Beni Anaconda (2022) – Smithsonian Magazine
4. Polluted porpoises: Generational transfer of organic contaminants in harbour porpoises from the southern North Sea (2021) – Science of the Total Environment
5. Interacting effects of vessel noise and shallow river depth elevate metabolic stress in Ganges river dolphins (2019) – Scientific Reports
6. Porpoises the World Over: Diversity in Behavior and Ecology (2019) – Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Odontocetes (book chapter)
7. High field metabolic rates of wild harbour porpoises (2018) – Journal of Experimental Biology
8. Morphological convergence in ‘river dolphin’ skulls (2017) – PeerJ
9. Ultra-High Foraging Rates of Harbor Porpoises Make Them Vulnerable to Anthropogenic Disturbance (2016) – Current Biology
10. The Neocortex of Indian River Dolphins (Genus Platanista): Comparative, Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis (2016) – Brain, Behavior and Evolution
11. Do Porpoises Choose Their Associates? A New Method for Analyzing Social Relationships among Cetaceans (2011) – PLoS ONE
12. Coexistence of Fisheries with River Dolphin Conservation (2010) – Conservation Biology
13. Bye Baiji? (2007) – Current Biology
14. River Dolphins Initiative – WWF
15. Myths and Legends of the Amazon’s Pink River Dolphin – South America Vacations

Lesson 7 · Echolocation

Articles and studies

1. For Dolphins, Echolocation May Be More Like ‘Touching’ Than ‘Seeing’ (2025) – Scientific American
2. Adaptive echolocation behavior of bats and toothed whales in dynamic soundscapes (2023) – Journal of Experimental Biology
3. Echolocating toothed whales use ultra-fast echo-kinetic responses to track evasive prey (2021) – eLife
4. A bigger nose, a bigger bang: size matters for echolocating toothed whales (2018) – Aarhus University
5. Clicking in Shallow Rivers: Short-Range Echolocation of Irrawaddy and Ganges River Dolphins in a Shallow, Acoustically Complex Habitat (2013) – PLoS ONE
6. The Acoustic World of Harbor Porpoises – American Scientist
7. Possible limitations of dolphin echolocation: a simulation study based on a cross-modal matching experiment – no link

Lesson 8 · Orca

Articles and studies

1. Why these orcas are wearing salmon as hats (again) (2024) – National Geographic
2. Ancestry testing of “Old Tom,” a killer whale central to mutualistic interactions with human whalers (2023) – Journal of Heredity
3. These orcas control the waves to hunt. It’s spine-tingling to watch. (2023) – National Geographic
4. Independent acoustic variation of the higher- and lower-frequency components of biphonic calls can facilitate call recognition and social affiliation in killer whales (2020) – PLoS ONE
5. Genome-culture coevolution promotes rapid divergence of killer whale ecotypes (2016) – Nature Communications
6. The Cooperation of Humans and Killer Whales (Orcinus orca): The Application of a Simple Fuzzy Rule-Based Model to a Historical System (2015) – Academia.edu
7. Killer whale ecotypes: Is there a global model? (2013) – Biological Reviews
8. Cultural traditions and the evolution of reproductive isolation: ecological speciation in killer whales? (2012) – Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
9. Antarctic Peninsula killer whales (Orcinus orca) hunt seals and a penguin on floating ice (2012) – Marine Mammal Science
10. Cross-cultural and cross-ecotype production of a killer whale ‘excitement’ call suggests universality (2011) – Naturwissenschaften
11. Killer whales (Orcinus orca) feeding on schooling herring (Clupea harengus) using underwater tail-slaps: kinematic analyses of field observations (2000) – Journal of Experimental Biology
12. Development of intentional stranding hunting techniques in killer whale (Orcinus orca) calves at Crozet Archipelago (1995) – Canadian Journal of Zoology
13. Surface and underwater observations of cooperatively feeding killer whales in northern Norway (1993) – Canadian Journal of Zoology
14. Intentional stranding apprenticeship and social play in killer whales (Orcinus orca) (1991) – Canadian Journal of Zoology
15. Acoustic behaviour of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) off Vancouver Island, British Columbia (1989) – Canadian Journal of Zoology

Books

1. Endangered Orcas: The Story of the Southern Residents (2019) – Monika Wieland Shields

Lesson 1 · Migration

Articles and studies

1. How Marine Mammals Navigate – A Review (2026) – University of British Columbia, Working Paper
2. Migrating baleen whales transport high-latitude nutrients to tropical and subtropical ecosystems (2025) – Nature Communications
3. Whales Don’t Ask for Directions: Here’s How They Always Know the Way (2025) – Whale Scientists
4. Monitoring whale migration from space (2025) – WWF Arctic
5. Whisperers of whales wander: A directional statistical investigation of whales’ migration influenced by geomagnetic, ocean current, and celestial cues (2025) – Journal for Nature Conservation
6. Timing is everything: Drivers of interannual variability in blue whale migration (2020) – Scientific Reports
7. Gray whales strand more often on days with increased levels of atmospheric radio-frequency noise (2020) – Current Biology
8. Straight as an arrow: humpback whales swim constant course tracks during long-distance migration (2011) – Biology Letters
9. Evidence from strandings for geomagnetic sensitivity in cetaceans (1986) – Journal of Experimental Biology
10. Gray Whale Migration – NOAA Ocean Today

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)

Lesson 2 · Ecosystem engineers

Articles and studies

1. Migrating baleen whales transport high-latitude nutrients to tropical and subtropical ecosystems (2025) – Nature Communications
2. The Great Whale Conveyor Belt: Earth’s Largest Mammals Keep Oceans Thriving (2025) – Whale Scientists
3. Opportunities, research gaps, and risks in allogenic ecosystem engineer mimicry (2025) – PubMed Central
4. Whales and Carbon Sequestration: Can Whales Store Carbon? (2024) – NOAA Fisheries
5. Whales are the engineers of their ecosystems (2021) – Whale Scientists
6. Whales are Vital for Marine Ecosystem Health (2016) – International Whaling Commission
7. Whales as marine ecosystem engineers (2014) – Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
8. Ecosystem Engineers – ScienceDirect Topics
9. Blue Carbon – NOAA Office for Coastal Management

Lesson 3 · Diving

Articles and studies

1. How To Study The Deepest Diving Whales? Use Chemistry! (2024) – Whale Scientists
2. How did whales become the world’s deepest-diving mammals? (2021) – Whale Scientists
3. Extreme diving in mammals: first estimates of behavioural aerobic dive limits in Cuvier’s beaked whales (2020) – Journal of Experimental Biology
4. The advantages of diving deep: Fin whales quadruple their energy intake when targeting deep krill patches (2019) – Functional Ecology
5. The CROW: Campus Research and Observational Writings, Volume Two (2017) – University of Washington Bothell
6. Adaptations 6: Problems with pressure (2012) – The University of Western Australia
7. Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals (2012) – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)

Lesson 4 · Culture

Articles and studies

1. Animal culture: conservation in a changing world (2025) – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
2. Culture and conservation in baleen whales (2025) – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
3. Cultural Transmission, Evolution, and Revolution in Vocal Displays: Insights From Bird and Whale Song (2020) – Frontiers in Psychology
4. Dolphin girl gang uses sponges to catch prey and create a new culture (2020) – Whale Scientists
5. The interplay between social networks and culture: theoretically and among whales and dolphins (2013) – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
6. Spontaneous human speech mimicry by a cetacean (2012) – Current Biology

Books

1. The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins (2015) – Hal Whitehead & Luke Rendell

Lesson 1 · Whaling

Articles and studies

1. Historical Review of Whaling (2020) – Springer (book chapter)
2. Too Much Is Never Enough: The Cautionary Tale of Soviet Illegal Whaling (2014) – Marine Fisheries Review
3. A Review of Changes in the Use of Whale Resources over Time in Japan, with a Specific Example of the Hand-harpoon Fishery of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture (2013) – Semantic Scholar
4. A taxonomy of world whaling: operations, eras, and data sources (2003) – NOAA
5. Modern Eskimo whaling in the Alaskan Arctic (1988) – IEEE Xplore
6. The Technology of Whaling in Australian Waters in the 19th Century (1983) – Semantic Scholar
7. The Development of Indigenous Whaling: Prehistoric and Historic Contexts – ResearchGate
8. Commercial whaling – International Whaling Commission

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)

Lesson 2 · Bycatch and entanglement

Articles and studies

1. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024: Fisheries and aquaculture employment (2024) – FAO
2. How ‘dolphin safe’ is canned tuna, really? (2021) – National Geographic
3. Bycatch in gillnet fisheries threatens Critically Endangered small cetaceans and other aquatic megafauna (2019) – Endangered Species Research
4. Entanglement is a costly life-history stage in large whales (2017) – Ecology and Evolution
5. Welfare Implications of Cetacean Bycatch and Entanglements (2017) – Marine Mammal Welfare (book chapter)
6. The Painful Side of Trap and Fixed Net Fisheries: Chronic Entanglement of Large Whales (2012) – Journal of Marine Biology
7. Lethal entanglement in baleen whales (2011) – Diseases of Aquatic Organisms
8. Bycatch – International Whaling Commission

Lesson 3 · Noise pollution

Articles and studies

1. Pilot whales shout louder to be heard over noise pollution (2026) – Journal of Experimental Biology
2. Avoidance, confusion or solitude? Modelling how noise pollution affects whale migration (2024) – Movement Ecology
3. Approaches to reduce noise from ships operating in important killer whale habitats (2019) – Marine Pollution Bulletin
4. Evolution of Marine Noise Pollution Management (2015) – Aquatic Mammals
5. Evidence that ship noise increases stress in right whales (2012) – Proceedings of the Royal Society B
6. The impact of ocean noise pollution on marine biodiversity (2008) – Lindy Weilgart

Lesson 4 · Plastic and chemical pollution

Articles and studies

1. Plastics – the fast Facts 2024 (2024) – Plastics Europe
2. Chemical Pollution and Diseases of Marine Mammals (2023) – Marine Mammals (book chapter)
3. 7 Solutions To Ocean Plastic Pollution (2023) – Oceanic Society
4. Predicting global killer whale population collapse from PCB pollution (2018) – Science
5. Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic (2018) – Scientific Reports
6. Population growth is limited by nutritional impacts on pregnancy success in endangered Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) (2017) – PLoS ONE
7. Exposure to a mixture of toxic chemicals: implications for the health of endangered southern resident killer whales (2016) – NOAA
8. The impact of debris on marine life (2015) – Marine Pollution Bulletin
9. As main meal for sperm whales: Plastics debris (2013) – Marine Pollution Bulletin
10. Cetaceans and Marine Debris: The Great Unknown (2012) – Journal of Marine Biology
11. Editorial: Plastic Pollution – An Ocean Emergency – ResearchGate
12. Global plastics production – Our World in Data
13. Facts – Seaspiracy

Lesson 5 · Climate change

Articles and studies

1. Potential synergistic impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activity on Arctic marine mammals (2026) – Environmental Reviews
2. The Ocean and Climate Change (2025) – NASA Science
3. Climate change and cetacean health: impacts and future directions (2022) – PubMed
4. Climate change-accelerated ocean biodiversity loss & associated planetary health impacts (2022) – ScienceDirect
5. Rapid climate-driven circulation changes threaten conservation of endangered North Atlantic right whales (2019) – Oceanography
6. Living Planet Index (2016) – WWF
7. ‘The Blob’ invades Pacific, flummoxing climate experts (2015) – Science
8. Living Blue Planet Report (2015) – WWF
9. Arctic amplification dominated by temperature feedbacks in contemporary climate models (2014) – Nature Geoscience
10. Processes and impacts of Arctic amplification: A research synthesis (2011) – Global and Planetary Change
11. Loss of Arctic sea ice causing punctuated change in sightings of killer whales (Orcinus orca) over the past century (2009) – Ecological Applications
12. Ocean acidification: the other CO2 problem (2009) – Annual Review of Marine Science
13. Potential effects of climate change on marine mammals (2006) – Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review
14. Long-term decline in krill stock and increase in salps within the Southern Ocean (2004) – Nature
15. How climate change impacts the ocean – IFAW
16. How Narwhals Find Food: Hunting Beneath Arctic Sea Ice – Narwhal.org

Lesson 1 · The humpback recovery

Articles and studies

1. Changes in age-related sexual selection in a humpback whale population recovering from exploitation (2026) – Current Biology
2. From Harpoons to Hope – The Return of Humpback Whales (2025) – Greenpeace Australia Pacific
3. Why humpback whales are coming back (2025) – EarthSky
4. Bellwethers of change: population modelling of North Pacific humpback whales from 2002 through 2021 reveals shift from recovery to climate response (2024) – Royal Society Open Science
5. Humpback Whales Have Made a Remarkable Recovery, Giving Us Hope for the Planet (2020) – TIME
6. Humpback whales make stunning comeback in southern Africa (2019) – National Geographic
7. Post-whaling Recovery: The Beautiful Story of Humpbacks (2019) – Baleines en direct
8. Assessing the recovery of an Antarctic predator from historical exploitation (2019) – Royal Society Open Science
9. High pregnancy rates in humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) around the Western Antarctic Peninsula, evidence of a rapidly growing population (2018) – Royal Society Open Science
10. Humpback Whales: An Endangered Species Act Success Story? (2016) – NOAA Fisheries
11. The whale that inspired Greenpeace (2013) – OUPblog – Frank Zelko
12. Humpback whale – International Whaling Commission
13. Humpback whale – Center for Biological Diversity
14. The recovery of North Atlantic right whales, Eubalaena glacialis, has been constrained by human-caused mortality (2018) – Royal Society Open Science

Lesson 2 · The vaquita

Articles and studies

1. Saving the Vaquita (2025) – Sea Shepherd
2. Results of the 2025 Vaquita Monitoring Effort (2025) – Sea Shepherd
3. Chapter 13 – Vaquita Phocoena sinus Norris and McFarland, 1958 (2025) – ScienceDirect (book chapter)
4. Addressing Illegal Transnational Trade of Totoaba and Its Role in the Possible Extinction of the Vaquita (2023) – Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy
5. A field effort to capture critically endangered vaquitas Phocoena sinus for protection from entanglement in illegal gillnets (2019) – Endangered Species Research
6. Conservation of the vaquita Phocoena sinus (2006) – Mammal Review
7. What is killing the vaquita? – Porpoise Conservation Society
8. Vaquita – NOAA Fisheries

Books

1. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition (2018) – Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (eds.)

Lesson 3 · Marine protected areas

Articles and studies

1. A New Era for Ocean Protection (2026) – The Nature Conservancy
2. What is the High Seas Treaty and Why is it Important? (2026) – United Nations University
3. 10% of the ocean now protected. We have four years to triple it (2026) – Oceanographic
4. Dominica creates the world’s first Sperm Whale Reserve, a win for conservation and climate (2025) – One Earth
5. Dominica Establishes World’s First Sperm Whale Reserve, a Boost for Climate, Biodiversity and the Local Economy (2023) – National Geographic Society
6. Extensive Use of Habitat-Damaging Fishing Gears Inside Habitat-Protecting Marine Protected Areas (2022) – Frontiers in Marine Science
7. The Important Marine Mammal Area Network: A Tool for Systematic Spatial Planning in Response to the Marine Mammal Habitat Conservation Crisis (2022) – Frontiers in Marine Science
8. The MPA Guide: A framework to achieve global goals for the ocean (2021) – Science
9. Elevated trawling inside protected areas undermines conservation outcomes in a global fishing hot spot (2018) – Science
10. Place-based approaches to marine mammal conservation (2016) – Aquatic Conservation
11. Dynamic ocean management: Defining and conceptualizing real-time management of the ocean (2015) – Marine Policy
12. Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features (2014) – Nature
13. The Importance of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) – National Geographic Education
14. MPAtlas – Marine Conservation Institute
15. The MPA Guide – MPAtlas

Lesson 4 · Responsible whale watching

Articles and studies

1. Your guide to the best, most responsible whale watching destinations (2026) – Travel Counsellors
2. What is responsible whale watching? – IWC Whale Watching Handbook
3. Importance of whale watching: Protecting marine life – IFAW
4. Responsible whale watching and whale welfare – ResearchGate
5. Keeping whales in captivity is wrong – Responsible Travel
6. Wild vs. Captivity – Animal Welfare Institute

Lesson 5 · Citizen science

Articles and studies

1. From citizen science to AI models: Advancing cetacean vocalization automatic detection through multi-annotator campaigns (2024) – Ecological Informatics
2. The WhaleReport Alert System: Mitigating threats to whales with citizen science (2024) – Biological Conservation
3. Population changes in a whale breeding ground revealed by citizen science noninvasive genetics (2022) – Global Ecology and Conservation
4. Cidadãos, mídia social e ciência: a Ciência Cidadã como ferramenta de engajamento público na pesquisa com cetáceos – Maricato et al. (in Portuguese)
5. Happywhale – Happywhale
6. OceanWatchers – ORCA
7. Citizen science – Whale Wise
8. Whale Report Alert System (WRAS) – Ocean Wise