MSI Public Lecture Series

Tony Amos

Thursday, February 2^nd, 2006 at 7:00 PM
The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Visitor Center Auditorium

"They Were the Right Whales in the Wrong Place: Marine Mammals Who Lost Their Way in South Texas"

Two weeks ago one of the world’s rarest great whales and her six-week-old baby found their way into Corpus Christi Bay.  Far from their normal wintering grounds off the southeast coast of the US, the baby was cut by a ship’s propeller somewhere along the way.  Workers and volunteers from the MSI’s Animal Rehabilitation Keep (the ARK) went out in a small boat not knowing what to expect (if anything) and found the pair of Northern Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) within sight of downtown Corpus Christi.  This is the story of that amazing encounter and of several other experiences we’ve had with a variety of whales, dolphins, and manatees in South Texas over the past 25 years.  As part of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, we have dealt with eight other kinds of whales, nine species of dolphins and a lost manatee or two.  This is their story, too.