RESEARCH: Heart rates of Steller sea lions drop slowly and oscillate while diving. By Dr. RheaStorlund, Dr. David Rosen @mmeanlab.bsky.social and Dr. Andrew Trites. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00360-025-01645-w Image by Наталья Коллегова from Pixabay

RESEARCH: Heart rates of Steller sea lions drop slowly and oscillate while diving. By Dr. RheaStorlund, Dr. David Rosen @mmeanlab.bsky.social and Dr. Andrew Trites. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

How do baleen whales get so big? Their fetal growth rate is off the charts compared to all other mammals. For all others, large offspring come from increasing the length of pregnancies. For baleen whales it's from insanely fast growth

Pinnipeds (#seals and #sealions) put their hearts in to 'taking a nosedive'. oceans.ubc.ca/ocean-idioms/
@mmeanlab.bsky.social @science.ubc.ca #RheaStorlund

When we say "nosedive," we usually mean disaster—but not for pinnipeds. 🦭 Find out ⬇ how seals and sea lions are uniquely adapted to dive deep🫀

Today's #OceanIdiom is "Taking a nosedive"

#WorldOceansDay #OceanIdioms #MarineMammals
oceans.ubc.ca/ocean-idioms/

One more for the category of “scientific oops”.

Please share: (competitive) PhD funding in Strasbourg (France) to work on 🐧🔥:

Physiological and reproductive consequences of ‘warm’ environmental conditions on land in a sub-polar penguin species

Fieldwork in Crozet 🇹🇫 is forecasted (pending on HPAI situation)

amethis3.unistra.fr/amethis-clie...

Meanwhile, politics in Canada.

Similar plan was hatched in Canada - I think in the 60s?- designed I believe to preserve hake. This one entailed using 50 cal machine guns but was foiled due to an ammunition mixup.

Fortunately, the next Comparative Nutrition Society meeting will be held in Victoria, Canada in August 2026. Check it out at cnsweb.org

These tariffs will CRIPPLE the elephant seal oil industry!

Folks, exactly 5 years ago today I made this offer, & I'll do it again.

Many graduate students are in danger of losing their one field season for collecting data- in March 2020 because of the pandemic, now because of Musk-Trump BS. This means that many won't be able to finish graduate school. 🧪🧵

It’s difficult if co-authors “own” part of the study and can raise a fuss if excluded. But if it is a matter of different visions, perfectly legit to give them opportunity to bow out of YOUR paper. But get it in writing so there are minimal hijinks after publication.

For the full statement, please visit the Society for Marine Mammalogy's webpage: marinemammalscience.org/diversity-in...

#SMM #marinemammalscience #missionstatement

As President of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution @csee-scee.bsky.social I wish to convey our strong support for this letter (which we have signed on to) and our colleagues and allies in the U.S. We stand with you and are here for you. Science is not a partisan issue. It benefits all.

Canadians in Solidarity with Stand Up for Science By adding your name below, you are joining a growing movement of Canadians who believe in the power of science to inform policy and serve the public good. Your name will automatically be added to our ...

Canadians in solidarity with Stand Up for Science.
I signed. The assault on science in Canada under the conservative Harper regime was not as extreme as the MAGA one, but came from the same desire to prevent scientists from speaking truth to power.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

There is a good podcast on this topic on the BBCs Infinite Monkey Cage

NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes SILVER SPRING, MD—As mass firings of career experts and scientists continued to roil the federal government, officials confirmed Friday that cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes

Polar Bear postdoc!!! 🦑

Science at Risk: Protect NOAA Scientists & experts: Add your name to this open letter calling on Congress and the Trump administration to ensure that NOAA and its sub-agencies remain fully funded and staffed, and that the independ...

Here is a sign-on letter for individual scientists and other experts to speak out and protect NOAA. I signed it and I encourage you to sign it as well.

secure.ucsusa.org/a/2025-prote... 🌎🧪🦑🐠

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

I feel like I can’t even email my colleagues without fear of getting them in trouble for interacting with this dangerous foreign national. What a state of affairs for the science community. The ramifications will be global.

Great, intriguing paper. Will be sharing with my lab. Despite the fact that the first rule of Fight Club is ….

Oh, the irony of today’s competing newspaper headlines: “US stocks tumble on fears of Chinese advances in AI” and “possible funding freeze for US scientists”.

January 27 - This day commemorates the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp that took place in 1945 and honours the memory of the victims and the survivors of the Holocaust (the Shoah). events.ubc.ca/internationa...

Doing my Alma mater proud.

As a grumpy old man who studies marine mammals I am bemused/confused by the sudden influx of followers on this platform who only have glamour shots on their profiles. I hope they are not mistakenly after my fortune!

For scientists here is a polar bear trying to pet a ringed seal at Toronto’s ROM

“et al.” should always have a period as it is an abbreviation for “et alia”. Yes, I was cruelly forced to take Latin as a child.

I am recruiting two funded graduate students (1 MS, 1 PhD) to join the lab and the Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences program at Oregon State University!

If you are into population ecology and a combination of fieldwork and modeling - then check this out!

Please share/repost widely!

An echidna walking towards the camera over a sandy, woody terrain

Platypuses & echidnas are unique in many ways, including their gastric anatomy. Join us on 14 Jan at 9am (UK) to hear from #OpenBiology author Jackson Bryce Dann on how the genetics of egg-laying mammals influence their unique physiology: cassyni.com/events/YD91P...

Feed seals and look at their poop.