Katie Kowarski is a PhD student in the Whitehead lab studying humpback whale vocalizations in the western North Atlantic. Humpback whales occur seasonally off eastern Canada and the U.S.A. where they spend their summers foraging before most animals migrate to their winter breeding grounds of the Caribbean. Prior to their southward migration in the fall, male humpback whales begin to sing their famously elaborate and hierarchical songs. Katie is studying the timing and nature of these early humpback whale songs, as well as those produced on their return trip in the spring. Her work seeks to uncover where, when, and how humpback whale song onset and cessation occurs and what environmental cues may drive this dramatic behavioural transition.
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