#marine-life

15 segments tagged with marine-life on Living on Earth.

May 22, 2026: Baby Right Whales Bring Hope
North Atlantic Right Whales were once so thoroughly hunted they nearly went extinct. When hunting these mammals was outlawed, they slowly started to bounce back, but today these Right whales are dealing with newer deadly threats, such as fishing gear entanglement and warming in the Gulf of Maine. So, it’s a relief to advocates to have a successful calving season like this year with 23 new calves, the most since 2009. Amy Warren, the Scientific Program Officer at the New England Aquarium, spoke with Host Aynsley O’Neill.
April 03, 2026: Trump Waives Endangered Species Protections
A panel known as the “God Squad”, consisting mostly of Trump cabinet members, recently voted to exempt the oil and gas industry operating in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act. If courts do not intervene, this decision would waive the standard ESA requirements to protect endangered species including the Rice’s whale, of which there are only a few dozen left. Pat Parenteau, Emeritus Professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School, joins Host Jenni Doering to discuss.
April 03, 2026: A Citizen Science Bioblitz
The City Nature Challenge is an international contest known as a bioblitz: a brief, intensive survey of biological diversity over a set area and time. A few years back Host Aynsley O'Neill met up with the Boston BioBlitz Initiative for Girls during a trip to Thompson Island in Boston Harbor, where a group of teens practiced their observational skills for the competition. And anyone can participate in this year’s bioblitz.
October 03, 2025: BirdNote®: Black Swifts Reach for the Moon
There are all sorts of ways that life on Earth takes advantage of the regular cycles of the moon, from horseshoe crabs and grunion fish that lay their eggs during the high tides of a full moon to corals that spawn en masse in the days afterwards. Michael Stein reports for BirdNote® on how black swifts are also synced to lunar cycles and fly higher during the full moon.
September 26, 2025: Note on Emerging Science: Whales Mistake Plastic for Food
Deep-diving whales use echolocation to hunt in the pitch black of the deep ocean. Research shows that plastic debris in the ocean “looks” very similar to common whale prey, like squid, when hit with these sound waves. Living on Earth’s Don Lyman reports that whales may be mistaking this plastic debris for their food.
August 29, 2025: The Outlaw Ocean
About seventy percent of our planet is covered by the oceans, but the high seas are among the least-explored frontiers on Earth. And lawlessness is rampant in this vast wilderness, with crimes ranging from illegal fishing to slavery at sea. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ian Urbina wrote The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier to tell the harrowing stories of high crimes on the high seas, and he joined Host Steve Curwood at a recent live event in Boston.
August 29, 2025: Reef Symphony
For a taste of what an oyster reef sounds like, an excerpt of a piece by Living on Earth Producer Sophia Pandelidis about the “symphony” of a reef, with snapping shrimp, grunting fish and grazing urchins all part of this underwater orchestra.
July 04, 2025: Sight": Caribbean Reef Shark
Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender has photographed animals all over the world, including under the sea. He shared this observation from a dive in the Bahamas where he was photographing Caribbean reef sharks.
June 06, 2025: Saving Corals Amid Record Bleaching
Record-breaking heat in the oceans has led to the most widespread coral bleaching event ever documented, ongoing since January 2023. Bleaching weakens the corals and many end up dying, but others can recover and even thrive amid hotter oceans. Steve Palumbi, a Professor of Biology and Oceans at Stanford University, joins Host Aynsley O’Neill to share how researchers are finding ways to help corals survive and thrive as the oceans warm.
May 30, 2025: Listening on Earth: California Coast and Crows
This week, sounds sent in by Living on Earth listeners include the crashing waves at Point Lobos near Monterey Bay on the California coast, and a crow in downtown San Francisco.
May 23, 2025: Seagrass "Gardening
Seagrass is a foundation of marine ecosystems and stores as much as 35 times more carbon than a tropical rainforest, but warming ocean temperatures and other threats are wiping seagrass out. There is hope, though, as a project to “garden” or cultivate more resilient varieties is making waves along the U.S. East Coast. Hosts Aynsley O’Neill and Jenni Doering chat about the benefits and promising results of this seagrass “gardening.”
May 23, 2025: Protecting Tenerife's Marine Marvels
One of the recipients of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize is helping to protect an especially biodiverse part of the oceans around the Canary Islands. Carlos Mallo Molina was previously a civil engineer who also loved scuba diving. When he found out about plans to build a massive port on the island of Tenerife that could have devastated the local marine life, he decided to leave construction and dedicate his career to protecting the oceans. He joined Living on Earth Executive Producer Steve Curwood.
May 16, 2025: Countermeasures"- Dunlin
On the placid saltpans of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in coastal Massachusetts, the shorebirds known as dunlin are feeding. Then, just like that, they rise and fly in almost perfect unison to evade an intruder, Living on Earth’s Explorer-in-Residence Mark Seth Lender reports.
April 04, 2025: Note on Emerging Science: Orcas Wear Salmon as Hats
Orcas in the Pacific Northwest have again been observed carrying dead salmon on their heads. Living on Earth’s Kayla Bradley explains what scientists think this unique behavior may indicate about orcas’ diet, health, and culture.
February 28, 2025: Mother and Son: Sea Otter Bonding
Mother sea otters spend a lot of time grooming their young pups. It’s a bonding experience as well as a matter of survival. Clean and well-groomed fur keeps these sea otters afloat on the coastal waters where they spend their entire lives. Living on Earth’s Explorer-in-Residence Mark Seth Lender narrates a precious scene of an attentive otter mom and her young pup.

← All tags · Back to Home