Join us for this killer presentation by Robert (Bob) Pitman.  Throughout his career one of Bob’s main research interests has been the ecology of killer whales. Beginning in 2003 he efforts to describe five different ‘ecotypes’ of killer whales from the Southern Ocean, each with their own unique color patterning and different food and foraging habits. Recent genetics analyses suggest that these might, in fact, be separate species. Bob is involved in ongoing research on how these various killer whale forms manage to co-exist, and how their feeding impacts populations of their prey species.

From 1976-2019, Bob worked as a marine ecologist for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, California. He participated in over 140 scientific research cruises in all the oceans of the world, including more than 30 trips to Antarctica. He has published some 150 papers in the peer-reviewed literature and co-authored two editions of a Guide to Marine Mammals of the World. In addition to scientific articles, Bob writes for popular media and is a regular contributor to Natural History Magazine. His research has focused on diverse topics: flyingfish systematics, feeding ecology of tropical seabirds, sea turtle distribution and abundance, but his primary focus has been whales and dolphins, their distribution, ecology, and conservation. He is a world expert on beaked whales, was a member of the expedition that chronicled the extinction of the Yangtze River Dolphin, and has continued to be closely involved in efforts to prevent extinction of the vaquita porpoise, now the most critically endangered marine mammal on the planet.

Currently, Bob lives in Newport, Oregon, and is an affiliate of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University; his wife and colleague, Lisa Ballance, is Director of the Institute.

MEETING LOCATION:

OSU Extension Lincoln County
1211 SE Bay Blvd
Newport, OR 97365

This presentation is brought to you by Yaquina Birders & Naturalists