Aquatic Megafauna Research Unit in Murdoch, Western Australia | College & University

Aquatic Megafauna Research Unit

Locality: Murdoch, Western Australia

Address: 90 South St 6150 Murdoch, WA, Australia

Website: https://amru.org.au/

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25.01.2022 AMRU researchers Krista Nicholson and Dr Nahiid Stephens will be discussing some of their dolphin research in Mandurah tonight. Free event. Come along! https://facebook.com/events/2430098223977328/?ti=icl

24.01.2022 https://phys.org/news/2020-06-shhhh-whales-resting.html

24.01.2022 Check it out, Dr Delphine Chabanne had the opportunity to introduce some of the new dolphin calves to Today TonightWA crew while conducting her monthly survey in the SwanCanningRiverpark. And you can even have your say by naming Eden's calf, the smaller dolphin you see bowriding... Just go to the River Guardians competition page: https://www.riverguardians.com/competitions... PS: Garden and Heaven have already been given to the siblings @Murdoch Uni #dolphinname #swancanningriverpark

23.01.2022 Great story about the southern right whales and the longevity of the aerial survey program and dedication of (the late) John Bannister

21.01.2022 Still editing some of my video footage from my last eight years fieldwork, all taking under permits. While a lot of people may enjoy this video during confineme...nt, this dolphin named ‘Fingers’ had an abnormal behaviour consistent with begging for food and thus increasing the risk of entanglement and boat strike. It is time to give our wildlife stress and injury-free life #wildlifeconservation #cetacean #covid19 Aquatic Megafauna Research Unit - AMRU Murdoch Uni River Guardians See more

17.01.2022 A cetacean morbillivirus outbreak has been diagnosed for only the second time in Western Australia by AMRU member and veterinary pathologist Dr Nahiid Stephens. It has resulted in the deaths of 5 dolphins, including 2 Swan River residents. https://thewest.com.au//cetacean-morbillivirus-kills-swan-

17.01.2022 While dolphins are known to give birth during the warmer months of the year, it is not uncommon to occur during the colder ones. This is not an exception for do...lphins residing in the Swan Canning Riverpark with Moon introducing us to her newborn calf during our recent monitoring. Moon is one of the oldest females living in the Swan Canning Riverpark estuary and lost her previous month-old calf last year in April from an entanglement as well as the one before, presumably stillborn. With females having the ability to become receptive shortly after losing their calf and a gestation lasting for 12 months, we were very much hoping to see her with a new calf soon. With the help of the community (special thanks to Perth Waterbike Adventures for sharing a video of the mum alone early July), we also know that Moon’s calf is not more than a couple of weeks old. Since we started monitoring the community in 2011, Moon had two other calves, Night and Djinda, who still live in the estuary and are regularly seen with other resident dolphins of same age/gender. Murdoch University Aquatic Megafauna Research Unit - AMRU River Guardians

16.01.2022 Check out the work done by DBCA in collaboration with Macquarie University and two of our @AMRU_MURDOCH members Dr Delphine Chabanne and Dr Julian Tyne... This work was done under permits and trained researchers allowing the drone to fly at low altitude and above the animals for the purpose to collect blow samples.

15.01.2022 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins have been studied for more than a decade in our group, especially in the south west of Western Australia. Today, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assigns the conservation status Near Threatened (NT) to this species. Such status means that Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it doesn't currently qualify for the threatened status. Check out the link for more information and the different conservation status that IUCN can assign to a species or lower taxa based on research conducted by many scientists.

15.01.2022 The warm summer days make this time of the year the busiest one with many people enjoying the Swan Canning Riverpark with family and friends, It is also when the risk for dolphins to get injured is higher. This summer, we are also expected a few newborns (at least two). We would therefore like to remind everyone to slow down, keep your distance and don’t get close to dolphins or any marine mammals if boating, jet skiing or even kayaking and swimming. We wish you all a wonder...ful end-of-year celebration. @Murdoch Uni @River Guardians

14.01.2022 It takes some time to process photos when you encounter a group of 20 dolphins, all residents from the Swan Canning Riverpark, feeding frenzy in the Fremantle Port Inner Harbour. That was pretty much the entire community in one place given the total of 28 resident dolphins, including 6 calves...That is right, we have two more newborns (from mums Daniele and Claw) which is good news after losing one last month from entanglement with a crab pot rope. If you go fishing and boat...ing in the Swan Canning Riverpark, do the right thing by keeping your distance and taking your gear out of the water when you see the dolphins... Happy Mother's Day to all mums... @AMRU_Murdoch @RiverGuardians @MurdochUni

13.01.2022 AMRU researchers are helping to build capacity for dugong drone research internationally. Here is an example from the Philippines. https://www.murdoch.edu.au//innovative-drone-conservation-

11.01.2022 Last month, Dr Delphine Chabanne presented some of her work on the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins residing in the Swan Canning Riverpark, #PerthWA. Among her finding, Delphine found that some females residing in the adjacent waters, visited the estuary and were always accompanied by the local males. @River Guardians Dolphin Watchers, here is something to look for when observing dolphins in the estuary: 1) See if you can recognise them by matching the dorsal fin of each individual using the #Finbook2018. You will find other information for each individual (sex, age). 2) If you recognise any of the males such as Bottlenose, Hii or Blackwall (see photos below), is there another dolphin you cannot identify? Maybe it is a female from the adjacent waters and Delphine would love to confirm this with you.

06.01.2022 Sending our congratulations to Professor Lyn Beazley for becoming a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. She has been a Patron of the Dolphin Watch project (@River Guardians) since 2009 with @AMRU_Murdoch collaborating and feeding information into this project since then.

05.01.2022 AMRU's Dr Nahiid Stephens was interviewed about a post mortem she carried out on a rare Andrew's Beaked Whale, and her findings. The case has continued to contribute to our understanding of this cryptic species, and the skeleton now resides within the collection of the Western Australian Museum. https://www.communitynews.com.au//beaked-whale-skeleton-h/

04.01.2022 Good morning from beautiful sunny Barcelona where we are attended to the World Marine Mammal Conference A conference bid was getting prepared in the last few months by #SMMPerth2023 committee, including Delphine Chabanne, Daniella Hanf, Krista Nicholson, Amanda Hodgson and Simon J Allen (with massive thanks to Perth Convention Bureau) Vote for Australia to host the Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals for the first time, in 2023! #smmperth2023 There will be an information stand (booth #308) at the World Marine Mammal Conference #wmmc19 in Barcelona this week, so come say G’day!#marinemammalscience #justanotherdayinwa

04.01.2022 For anyone who wants to know more about our resident community of dolphins in the Swan Canning Riverpark and how to get involved. #citizenscience #dolphins #longtermresearch

04.01.2022 Unfortunately, we lost another resident dolphins in the Swan Canning Riverpark.

03.01.2022 The dark side of wildlife tourism: feeding wild dolphins can bear negative consequences A new study authored by PhD student Valeria Senigaglia from AMRU reveals that feeding wild dolphins for tourism lower the survival of their calves, even when it is conducted under State-issued permits. The study of Bunbury’s local population of bottlenose dolphins shows that females who were provided with food had a lower reproductive success and only 1 out of 3 calves of their calves sur...vive to weaning age (3 years old) compared to 74% survival rate of calves from non-provisioned females. The results from this research add to those of previous studies showing that the local population is in decline and facing additional pressures of port expansion and increased boat traffic. The article can be downloaded from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45395-6. Further information on this population of dolphin and a complete comparison between Bunbury and Monkey Mia provisioning program can be found http://amru.org.au/our-/south-west-marine-research-program/ and https://www.cabi.org/animalscience/ebook/20183184090.

03.01.2022 In less than two weeks, AMRU members will start their journey to attend and share their work with 2,500 attendees at the 2nd World Marine Mammal Conference in Barcelona, Spain. #WMMC2019 #AMRU_Murdoch #MurdochUni

02.01.2022 Did you know coastal bottlenose dolphin populations show a difference in body length that is not caused by regional variation in birth size, but by a distinct difference in growth across all life stages? Check out Martin van Aswegen et al. fantastic work that has just been released.

02.01.2022 Join us tonight as we show off the Swan River's new baby dolphins, and how you can name the latest newborn calf to submit your suggestions www.riverguardians.com/competitions