Jennifer Tennessen (Penn State)
Potential factors driving mother-calf right whale collisions with vessels

North Atlantic right whale mother-calf pairs experience greater mortality from collisions with vessels than any other age or sex class within the species, an alarming trend because of the importance of mother-calf survival to the recovery of one of the most endangered baleen whales in the world.  Understanding factors that drive collisions with vessels in mother-calf pairs is crucial to preventing future collisions and encouraging population recovery.  I will explore hypotheses about factors driving mother-calf vulnerability to vessel collision, as well as suggest outlines for experiments I plan to conduct to test these hypotheses. I welcome all feedback!