Some humpback whales from the Northwestern Atlantic population forgo migration to the Caribbean, spending winter months feeding along the U.S. mid‐Atlantic coast. We studied the foraging behavior of these whales at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia during winter from 2017 to 2022. While shipping channels here reach depths of up to 30 m, most of the area is 11–15 m deep. This shallow‐water environment poses physical con...

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a “Green List of Species” (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species’ progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement aga...

Studies of the social behavior of Cuvier's beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ) are challenging because of their deep‐water habitat usually far from shore and the limited time they spend at the surface. The sociality of these deepest diving mammals is of interest, however, especially for our understanding of how social systems evolve in extreme habitats. High levels of scarring suggest that males compete agonistically for acc...

Expansive study areas, such as those used by highly-mobile species, provide numerous logistical challenges for researchers. Community science initiatives have been proposed as a means of overcoming some of these challenges but often suffer from low uptake or limited long-term participation rates. Nevertheless, there are many places where the public has a much higher visitation rate than do field researchers. Here we demonstrat...

Antarctic fur seals ( Arctocephalus gazella ) were commercially exploited on the subantarctic island of South Georgia for over 100 years and nearly driven to extinction. Since the cessation of harvesting, however, their populations have rebounded, and they are now often considered a nuisance species whose impact on the terrestrial landscape should be mitigated. Any evaluation of their current population requires the context pr...