Episode 42 - Fight Club vs. Flight Club

Joining us on this episode is Trevor Branch, a professor at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, to discuss his paper, "Most “flight” baleen whale species are acoustically cryptic to killer whales, unlike “fight” species." The discussion details how baleen whales can be categorized as either "fight" species or "flight" species, based on their responses to killer whale attacks, their vocalizations and other behaviors. We discuss which baleen whales belong in the flight club and which fall into the flight club and why. 

He also shares with us information from another paper he authored on a related topic that unravels the mystery of the missing blue whale calves. 

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Links from this episode:

• Most “flight” baleen whale species are acoustically cryptic to killer whales, unlike “fight” species: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mms.13228
• Unravelling the mystery of the missing blue whale calves: https://fish.uw.edu/2025/02/unravelling-the-mystery-of-the-missing-blue-whale-calves/
• Trevor Branch: https://fish.uw.edu/faculty/trevor-branch/