Raina Fan

July 7, 2021

Right whales are sometimes called "the urban whale" because of how close they come to shore to follow prey. It's partly why they were hunted to near extinction, and are severely threatened by ship strikes today.

In the northern hemisphere, right whales are so rare that every new death is a huge blow to the species' chances of recovery. The southern hemisphere species is doing much better. Here, a mother and calf hang near Cape Town while a passerby doesn't seem to notice them.

This photo was taken during my internship with Sea Search Research and Conservation. Getting a glimpse of a southern right whale was awesome, especially considering that their northern cousins may go extinct in our lifetimes.

I dive into some more detail about the plight of northern right whales in this article for The Canadian Encyclopedia.

May 18, 2021

Draw a Dolphin with Me, Part 2! Thanks to the Dolphin Communication Project for having me on their kids’ Dolphin Lessons series again. This time, we drew an orca (also known as a killer whale) together!

Hold up, why is there a dolphin lesson about killer whales? How can we tell if an orca is male or female? Answers to these questions and more at the video recording of this webinar.

If you’d rather not bother with drawing, there is also a colouring page version available on the DCP website.

December 15, 2020

Lucky to have capped the year off with Sea Search Research and Conservation, collecting humpback whale data near Cape Town, South Africa.

Humpback whales were hunted to near extinction in the 20th century but have recovered remarkably over the last few decades after becoming a protected species. Now, they’re returning to their ancestral feeding grounds on the Western Cape, where they form spectacular “super-groups” of up to 200 whales!

With the humpback population still recovering, these aggregations are still a new phenomenon. We know very little about their feeding strategies, or how the whales coordinate and communicate with each other. Moreover, shipping traffic is increasing in these waters, which pose major collision threats to these whales. Sea Search is using acoustic, behavioural and spatial mapping data to better understand the super-group phenomenon, and their findings will be crucial for figuring out how to coexist with these magnificent animals.