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Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Hello everyone, ever wondered how scientists study the incredible creatures that share our planet? Forget chasing butterflies with nets. Today we are diving into the world of high-tech wildlife research. Think drones soaring through jungle canopy, satellites peering down from space and even artificial intelligence lending a hand. These are just some of the amazing tools that are revolutionising the way we understand animals and their habitats. So buckle up nature enthusiasts because we are about to embark on a thrilling adventure, uncovering the secrets of the animal kingdom with the power of cutting edge technology.

I'm Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist, and I'm excited to talk to you about the incredible role innovative technologies in wildlife conservation. My work focuses on protecting marine animals, but these technologies are making a huge difference across all types of wildlife research. One of the most exciting tools we have in wildlife conservation is drones. Drones allow us to collect data from hard to reach places without disturbing the animals. For example, I use drones to collect whale snot, which helps us understand the health of whale populations.

By flying drones through the misty blow of a whale, we can gather biological samples that tell us about their health, diet, and even stress levels. The non-invasive method is a game changer for marine research. Another powerful technology is remote sensing. Using satellites, we can monitor wildlife habitats from space. This helps us track changes in the environment like deforestation or coral bleaching, and understand how these changes impact wildlife. Remote sensing provides us with large scale data that would be impossible to gather on the ground. It allows us to see the bigger picture and make more informed conservation decisions. Artificial intelligence, or AI, is also transforming wildlife conservation. Basically, it's teaching computers to do something really cool, like looking for lizards in packages.

AI can process fast amounts of data faster than humans. For example, we use AI to analyse images and videos from camera traps. This helps identify species, track their movements, and even detect poachers. With AI, we can quickly analyse data from thousands of images, which speeds up our research and allows us to respond to threats more effectively. It's like having an extra pair of eyes in the field. One of the most impactful ways we are using AI in wildlife conservation is to combat illegal wildlife trafficking. The illegal wildlife trade, is a major threat to many species. But AI is helping us fight back, by analysing data from packages, with animals inside.

We can, over time teach computers to learn the difference between a banana and a lizard. But first, let's define some key elements that we capture in terms of the data items. These include specific animal types, location, shipment details, and patterns of illegal activity.

Collecting this data isn't without its challenges. Issues can arise from incomplete data misidentification and the sheer volume of information that needs to be processed. Establishing baseline data is crucial. It gives us a starting point to measure changes and trends over time, helping us understand what normal looks like so we can then spot anomalies more effectively. This is where the role of a data scientist comes in.

Data scientists analyse vast amounts of information, identify patterns, and develop algorithms that our AI systems can use. Rangers and customs officers can then use this information to focus their patrols on high-risk areas, making the efforts more effective and efficient. This not only helps protect endangered species, but also ensures that we are one step ahead of the traffickers. With AI we have a powerful tool in our arsenal to reduce animal trafficking and safeguard wildlife for future generations. It's a perfect example of how technology can be leveraged for conservation and the protection of our planet's biodiversity. I hope this inspires you to think about how technology is being used for conservation.

Whether you're a budding scientist or curious about the natural world, there are endless opportunities to get involved and make a difference. Thank you for joining me today. Let's continue to explore and protect the amazing wildlife that share our planet.

[End of transcript]

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Have you ever wondered what whale snot is, or even how to capture whale snot, or how scientists study the health of these magnificent giants of the ocean? Today, we are diving into the fascinating world of whale snot, health, and conservation. Hello everyone, I'm Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist, and one of the most exciting parts of my work is using drones to collect whale snot. Yes, you heard right, whale snot.

When whales surface, they exhale, they release a misty blow that contains valuable biological information. Humpback whales are incredible creatures, and studying their health is crucial for understanding and protecting our marine ecosystems. My research focuses on these amazing animals and how we can ensure their survival. By flying a drone through this blow, we can collect samples without disturbing the whales. These samples contain DNA, bacteria, and other microorganisms that tell us a lot about a whale’s health. Back in the lab, we can analyse these samples using a method called PCR, or Polymerase Chain Reaction. This allows us to study the genetic material of the organisms living in whale blow. By comparing these samples, we can learn a lot about the health of individual whales and populations around the world. Data science is a big part of our work. We collect vast amounts of data and use advanced techniques to analyse and interpret it.By comparing our findings, we can get an even bigger picture of whale health and the factors affecting it.

Why focus on whales over other animals? Whales are key indicators of ocean health. They're at the top of the food chain and play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems. They also travel to areas most impacted by climatic changes, polar areas like Antarctica and the Arctic, and tropical waters near Earth's equator. Studying the health helps us understand the overall health of our oceans. Our research starts with curiosity and asking the right questions, ‘How healthy are these whales?’, ‘What microorganisms live in their respiratory systems?’. We then use these design processes to plan our studies, collect data, analyse our findings, and draw conclusions. Our goal is to use this research to take action and make a real impact on conservation strategies. By understanding the health of a whale population, we can develop better protection measures, and ensure the long-term survival of these incredible animals. Monitoring and protecting whale populations is essential for the health of our marine ecosystems.

These majestic creatures are not just fascinating to study, but they are also vital to the balance of our oceans. Together, we can work to ensure a healthy future for our planet's marine life. Thank you for joining me today. I hope this has sparked your curiosity and inspired you to learn more about marine science and conservation. Remember, every discovery starts with a question, so keep exploring, keep asking, and, together, we can make a difference for our oceans and the amazing creatures that call them home.

[End of transcript]

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Do you ever watch a wildlife documentary and think, ‘Wow, I wish I could do that’? Well, guess what? You can. If you are curious, passionate about animals, and love a challenge, then being a wildlife scientist might be the perfect career for you. Wildlife scientists are like real-life detectives, solving mysteries about animals and their habitats. They spend their days exploring wild places, tracking amazing creatures, and using cutting-edge science to protect them. Sounds pretty awesome, right?

I'm Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist, and today, I want to take you on a journey through the exciting world of wildlife science and conservation. Let me share with you how I got here, and how you can pursue a career in this incredible field.

My journey started with passion for animals and the natural world, but it wasn't always a clear path. In fact, my mother once told me, ‘Don't do this because there are no jobs.’ There's a common misconception that there are no career opportunities in wildlife science. But I'm here to tell you that if you follow your passion, the opportunities are endless.

I began my studies with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology, which then led me to wildlife science. The key is to remain open to where your interests might take you. Sometimes the journey is unexpected, but that's what makes it exciting. You don't have to be good at everything, effort and passion are what truly matter. A typical day in the life of a wildlife scientist can vary greatly. One day I might be out in the field collecting data with drones, and the next, I'm analysing samples in the lab. It's a mix of outdoor adventure and scientific inquiry. You need a blend of academic knowledge and practical skills, which you can gain through university degrees or TAFE courses. Collaboration is also a huge part of this career. Working with other scientists, conservationists, and even professionals from other fields like technology and data science is crucial. My advice, gain as much hands-on experience as possible. Internships, volunteering, and even jobs in retail or hospitality can teach you valuable skills that are all part of the process.

In wildlife conservation, we collect data on animal sightings, behaviours, migration patterns, health indicators, and environmental conditions. For instance, we might record humpback whale sightings during migration, note any visible injuries, and measure water temperatures and pollution levels in their habitat. Collecting accurate data can be challenging due to animal movements, changing environments, equipment failures, and weather conditions. Ensuring consistency in data collection by different people in various locations, as well as avoiding species misidentifications, and dealing with incomplete datasets are a common issue. Baseline data provides a reference point for what's normal in the species or environment, helping us detect changes or threats. For example, knowing typical whale population sizes and health allows us to notice sudden declines or increases in disease, enabling timely responses. Data scientists are crucial in wildlife conservation. They analyse collected data to find patterns and trends, predict migration patterns using algorithms, and develop efficient data collection tools. Their insights guide our conservation strategies, making our efforts more effective.

When I first started, I faced many challenges and uncertainties. But each experience, whether it was from a success or a setback, taught me something valuable. It's important to stay curious, keep learning, and never give up on your dreams. Your journey might take twists and turns, but that's part of finding your path. For those of you inspired to become wildlife scientists, here's a roadmap. Start with a solid foundation in science. Pursue a degree in zoology, biology, or environmental science. Seek out internships and volunteer opportunities to gain practical experience. Don't be afraid to explore different paths, whether it's university or TAFE. What matters is your dedication and your passion.

Remember, every experience is a stepping stone. Whether you are tracking whales or analysing data, every skill you acquire adds to your toolkit. The field of wildlife science is vast and full of opportunities. If you are passionate about animals and conservation, follow your dreams. Together, we can make a real difference in protecting our planet's incredible biodiversity. Thank you for joining me today. I hope this has inspired you to pursue a career in wildlife science. Keep exploring, keep learning, and most importantly, keep caring for our amazing planet.

[End of transcript]

Dr Jasmine Fellows – Managing Editor, Careers with STEM

Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and we're joined by the amazing Dr. Vanessa Pirotta, one of Australia's most famous wildlife scientists. Vanessa is a superstar of STEM and has won many awards for her work, so we are very lucky to have her with us today.

So what is Vanessa famous for? She's used drones to collect whale snot. Turns out you can tell a lot about a whale by studying it sticky, smelly snot. She uses AI to detect illegal wildlife trafficking, and this is to stop organised crime that puts wildlife at risk of extinction. And Vanessa is very keen to get everyday Australians like you involved in science through citizen science programs like Wild Sydney Harbour. In addition to all that, Vanessa writes books about her favourite animals and we can't wait to hear more about these books today. So it's time to give a massive welcome to Vanessa.

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Hello, thank you so much for being here and happy International Women's and Girls Day in Science. Thank you, Dr. Jasmine. Honestly, I am so excited to be here with you all. Now I hear some people are from overseas beaming in, which is exciting. And I also hear that some people are from the rural areas, remember, I grew up in Canberra, so if you're in Canberra, big hello. And if you, wherever you are, I would like to know where you are, so remember the Q&A is in below and big kids, you can ask questions as well, like what Jasmine said.

Also it's really important for those people who are learning from home, knowing that some people might not be in the classroom, I wonder if anyone's studying from a boat today, mmm. Anyway, with me today, before I go into my slides, I do have the very famous Winston, my humpback whale,

[Vanessa holds up ‘Winston’ a stuffed whale toy in her hands]

and we'll be learning more about Winston and where he might be at, or at least where his friends are right now because I can tell you not many of them are in Australian waters. So let's dive into a little bit of my talk and then we can get into the juicy bit, which are the Q&A questions.

I just can't wait Jasmine to be part of this because so much learning and on the most amazing day of the year. So let's dive in and my visuals will be helping me explain to you all the very exciting things we'll be learning about today. So this is my first screen and you’ll obviously see that you can sign in and you can be part of this, which is great. But what I'm representing is I'm at Macquarie University and we'll be seeing a lot of the really cool things that come out of the research that I do as a scientist.

So let's flip to the next slide. And what we'll see is something that's very, very exciting. It all started maybe when I was your age, and I always start with these kind of slides, not because it's, oh, this is what we all do, but because it's so important to know that when we are scientists or whatever we do as women in science, all girls, we travel this journey that is unique and we each have our own path. So my biggest calf, my eldest calf, my son just started school last week or the week before. And so I thought, hmm, what was my photo like when I was a little girl? And that is very much a photo of me on my very first day of school at Rosary Primary School in Canberra, if anyone from Watson's watching. But that was me on a farm. And then this is a photo of what I was most likely to be in year 12, because I know we've got some high school students watching as well. And you'll see that it says most likely to be a Truckee, miss universe, a prime minister, that's not me, but on Playschool was Vanessa Pirotta. And that's me, and guess what? That's me on playschool with Winston, he's not in that photo, Jemima and Humpty got a bit of a bit of love there. So you can see that ever since I was a little girl, sharing science has been part of what I'd love to do.

So if we go to this next slide here, you'll see that there's a few things that have made what I do a reality and for some of you, you might have your favourite books. One of my favourite books was the book ‘Whale’, which was just a photo of whales doing amazing things and when I was young, I couldn't tell you what this whale was doing because I didn't know, I was just fascinated by these school bus size creatures. And then there was a famous movie, ‘Free Willy’ which some of you may or may not know about. And then there is a little photo here, I think it was on my eighth birthday with me and that book.

So you can see if you are eight years old or whatever year you are in or however old you are, big kids and little kids, there are so many things that will probably shape where your interests and maybe what you want to do when you grow up. Or maybe you're a big kid and you wanna grow up and do something else. The world is your oyster.

But you can see here, here on this map, when I did grow up, I was all the way here in Canberra on a farm and whales were at least three hours to where I am now. So for some reason, I was so fascinated by the way these animals looked, how they swam, the fact that they breathe air like pfft! You and I, they're just so interesting. So all of these factors drew me into wanting to learn more and wanting to ask questions.

So my big takeaway already for today is, if you are interested in something, no matter what age you are, you must go down that path of learning. Because when we learn, we grow and our minds are full of so much knowledge. But also if you are a teacher or a guardian helping those learn, you are doing the one of the most important jobs on earth, which is sharing knowledge and helping inspire others learn as well.

And so this is really cool because the path to what I do as a scientist went from that little girl who loved whales to then working in a zoo. Yep, that's right, I worked in a zoo while I studied at university. Who would've thought that a whale and a giraffe might be so similar? They are. In fact, this giraffe Gatangga has the same number of neck bones as you and I, which is seven. And I'm sure some people might be screaming that out, but I love that.

And then, I became the whale scientist that I never thought I was going to be. But now here I am talking to you all and sharing knowledge on this very exciting day.

And with that, as a scientist, I know many of us probably thinking, okay, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we must wear lab coats. But I'm here to show you that our lab coats look different these days. Well, in my case, the one I'm wearing here is a blue lab coat on play school, which is a little different to what I wear in the actual lab. But as a scientist, I'm on boats, I'm researching whales in Antarctica. I'm here with our next generation, this is Laura and Millie here with myself, we're doing a whale tail. This is on kayaks on our blue backyard in Sydney. And this was just after the whale came into Sydney Harbour on a hump day, which was a Wednesday last year. So it was very appropriate we did our whale tail.

So you can see as a scientist, and as a scientist, I'm sitting right here right now in Parramatta, in Sydney streaming to you all around the world, all around Australia, sharing knowledge with you. So my second takeaway is that being a woman in girl in science, or a boy or a guy or wherever you are, you can do amazing things and you can grow and your path can do amazing things as well. That's what it's very exciting about. And sharing knowledge. I'm not in a lab coat today, I'm not on a boat today, but you know what? This is the most amazing thing because often what we learn, whether it be on a boat, in a laboratory or behind a computer, we share that and sharing information is so very wonderful and it's important to do that across all generations, which I love.

And so this leads me into the experiences I've had as a scientist. These have been few here and there, and I should say many far and between. And I put this slide together because if someone was to say, okay, Vanessa, just send me a photo of what you would do as a scientist. For me, there's lots. I'm a very visual person. So we've all heard of the word STEM: science, technology, engineering, and maths. But one of my big things that I really wanna do as a scientist is include the arts, because art is so important. Many of us are so visual. The people right now working to make these cameras happen, they're visual. And if it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be able to see me or hear me.

And with the things I've seen, I've transformed these into books. So you'll see that are my children's books. And don't worry, big kids, I've got you covered. We're gonna talk about the ‘Humpback Highway’ very soon as well. So as a scientist, so much of what I do, again, goes beyond the laboratory.

And I'm not the only scientist doing this. There are scientists right around Australia and the world sharing knowledge. But bringing this knowledge to you in the classroom or at home is incredibly important. So a lot of the experiences that you acquire as you go on your journey will create something amazing, whether it be produced into a book or a story, the way we tell stories is very important. And storytelling is probably more important than ever right now. And so you'll note that if you see these key resources that I've developed for schools primarily, they tell a simple story.

The first story I wanted to tell as a scientist was: Why do whales migrate? Because did you know some people don't really understand this, and that's okay because you don't have to be a whale scientist. So why whales migrate is essentially in this first book, ‘The Voyage of Whale and Calf’, and then the second book, ‘Humpback Highways’ for those bigger kids. So secondary years up.

And then what happens at nighttime in the ocean? I've seen some incredible things underwater, above water at nighttime when we're all asleep. And so to be able to learn at nighttime or any time of the day allows us to facilitate awareness for the world around us, which is so very special. And so that's why I have ‘Oceans at Night’. And as you can see, because I'm including the A in STEAM, so much of us and how we learn, because we don't all learn the same.

So much of that is able to be accessible and shared in a variety of ways. So if you're doing a school project or doing something very special, there are resources in place to assist you with this. For example, this first book, ‘The Voyage of Whale and Calf’, a lot of the themes that I write cover the Australian school curriculum. If you're an international viewer, this is very much complimentary to many of your school-based learning, regardless of where you're on the world.

Talking about biology, why does a whale go from Antarctica to Australia? Well, I'll tell you, because Winston and his friends will go to Antarctica to feed on Antarctic krill to become big, big, big, big, big. And then they'll use all that energy. So hopefully, he'd become nice and voluptuous because we want lots of body condition on Winston. And then Winston and his friends will then migrate to Northern Australia along the Australian east and the west coast, hello WA viewers, where he'll breed. So that's biology.

So the idea of going from one place to another is incredibly important for these animals in order to carry out the functioning of what they do, which is feeding in one area, pooing in another, to help feed the seafood that we all consume as well. So it's all about a connection. So this is the idea of life cycles migration. And also ocean health. We did mention ocean health I think at the start, but I don't know if you would've thought of it as ocean health. So to demonstrate that, I have some visuals of Winston's cousins maybe, I don't know. There's at least 50,000 humpback whales in this population now in Antarctica.

So you can see the cool, a big iceberg that we have there and some of the humpback whales and then when they migrate along our humpback highways on the east and the west coast, it's quite the swim. But because these animals go to these areas that are still in this world but almost out of this world, they carry with them information, biological information that we can gather to learn more about them.

Remember, Winston is really, really big. Well, I mean little... This is Winston, but Winston, your cousins are really big, right? And they can be as big as your school bus. So if you're coming to school, if you're going home on a school bus or if you're learning from a boat, I'd love to know if anyone's learning on a boat, Winston would be as long as your boat, maybe not a cruise ship but at least a good 17 metre bus.

And these animals wouldn't necessarily, you can't take them to the vet. So I don't know how I would take Winston to the vet to then ask for a flip of blood sample. I don't think he would be able to go because he's too big.

So as scientists, we continue to keep forging ahead using new tech. And this is an example of some of the tech we originally created. But my goodness me, the next stage of this research is so exciting and I just can't wait to show you. Not today though, because good things take time.

So ready for it. We're gonna go full screen. Here's what the drone does, it opens a lid, it goes through the snot and then shuts the lid. Let's do a repeat. The whale takes a breath, pft! and then the snot that's coming out from the lungs is a whole heap of juicy microbiological information. And on the Petri dish, which is like a collecting thing which we wanna collect the sample in, boom, it's collected on there and we've got a sample to learn more about whale health, which is pretty incredible. So you can thank STEAM for that because so much of this was a collaboration, but also the designing of the Petri dish, working out animal biology, engineering, tech and collaboration.

This was all very much a project designed with drone experts like Alastair Smith from Heliguy Scientific who assisted us with this collaboration that was truly a world first, which I'm very excited about.

And then this also led to another world first, the collection of, that's right, dolphin boogers. This is a photo of Alastair. Well, Alistair was flying the drone and then a little dolphin comes up. So we have whale snot which goes pft! And then dolphin snot, are you ready for it? Dolphin snot is like this, pfft. it's so small. Pfft here and there pfft. So it's very tiny. So it's very different to a whale.

So let's keep going. And if you're a bigger kid here, and I don't care if the bigger kids extend to well beyond bigger kids, you're a big kid.

The reason why I wrote ‘Humpback Highway’ is because we through science and through storytelling, we need to demonstrate why whales do what they do, but in an accessible way so that you can go and share this information to the next gen.

So when we think about the migratory corridors along the west and the east coast, we called this a humpback highway because these whales will come up and down the coast. And it's a really great analogy.

So you can think of traffic. In the morning, you might go to school or maybe ride a bike to school, that's awesome. Or maybe ride a motorbike to school. Maybe you ride a horse, if you ride a horse, that is so cool.

But my point being is that there's a lot... sometimes a lot of traffic on the way to school, blubber to blubber or bumper to bumper if you're a car, but blubber to blubber. So it allows us to think about the way which we can serve whales is the way in which you manage roads. We wanna make sure that we don't have any whale crashes on the highway. We wanna make sure there's no debris on the road. So there's nothing that a car can run into. In our case, we wanna make sure that there's no nets there or anything that a whale can be hurt by.

And the other thing is we wanna make sure there's no pollution on the road. So if you've got bubbles, blow those. But don't blow balloons and release them because oh my goodness, they end up on the humpback highway.

So you can see that ‘Humpback Highway’ is very much a great resource for talking about a lot of these themes, science and technology research, life cycles, but also the bigger picture.

So here's a incoming fact for you. Humpback whales can live up to 80 years of age. So that means when we protect humpback whales, we're not just protecting them for tomorrow, we are protecting their blue backyard for years to come. And that's very important.

So the whale or the use of whales in our education is really important because they are long lived and they're very similar to us. They've got nostrils, except their nostrils are not on their front of their face, they're on top of their head, which would be like up here. And they've got belly buttons. It's not really well demonstrated here, but they've got belly buttons. They have hair, right? Around their little mouth, and they swim like us and they give birth to babies. And when their babies come out, they come out tail first. And they know we're straight away to swim to the surface, which is very cool.

And one of the cool things that I'm doing as a scientist is I'm making sure that we create more whale scientists, we need other scientists as well. But my research in the Kingdom of Tonga is very exciting because whales not only come to Australia, but they go to other areas in the South Pacific.

So if we've got anyone viewing from Tonga, Samoa, Fiji even the Cook Islands, hello, big hello. I'm sure there's lots of communities here. But one of the things I'm running is the Tongan Whale Research Tourism project. And that's learning about the whales that go there. But it's empowering the Tongan locals to become whale scientists. So we have whale scientists here, but we can't be whale scientists everywhere. We wanna equip countries to look after whales as well, or at least give them the tools to be able to look after the animals, because did you know sometimes the whales that visit Tonga visit here as well? So that's very important.

And again, another thing that we wanna think about human impacts. Is swimming a good thing for whales? Some whales are really interested, some whales not so much. What about conservation and the communication of how we protect whales? It's all about thinking how we share stories, share science, share knowledge in all our own blue backyards. And that's what's very exciting.

So this is coming up to my last bit of my talk and then we can go to questions. And I added this here because I really want the big kids to be engaged. And I've got a few key photos and you're probably thinking, what is going on here? I've done this deliberately.

So when it comes to sharing knowledge, what we do as women and girls in science, or boys and men, regardless of whatever, if you're a boy or a girl, whatever, you share knowledge. Sharing knowledge is absolutely crucial.

As a scientist, one of the big things I'm doing is making sure that other scientists like me go beyond writing scientific papers, which means we share information like what we are doing now. We share information with your grandma, your nonna, your nonno, your tete, your jido, whatever they are. You're sharing information.

And sharing information is the most beautiful thing, because through that we all learn and we see the world differently. And so I've had some amazing questions from young minds and I can't wait to see the questions that we've got here. But one of the best things that I grew up with was play school. And play school, being able to be on play school twice now is the coolest thing in the world. So you can actually watch these episodes later on.

But talking about why whales don't need to wear coats was a really great question, because they have blubber. And that's a really great thing. And so being able to describe that to young minds also made me think, well, hold on a second. I need to explain this to my dad, my sister, my nephews, my nieces, all of them.

And so it's not about dumbing down information, it's about making that information accessible and there. And so on Play school, that created an opportunity for us to be very visual and to share information in a way that, as a scientist, I've never done before.

In fact, on play school, I got told to be calmed, calmed down a little bit more because I was so excited about it, which is something I'll never forget.

The other thing is big kids is when we have the media come to us and ask questions like, this is Adam here from ‘60 Minutes’, they're asking questions on behalf of the nation.

And so when we share information, again, we are educating. And the more informed we can be, the better we are at conserving as well. Because we can't help what we don't know and we can only protect what we know.

And so a really big thing as well with my research is making sure we try new science to detect the species that we can't even see. So that's just a little sprinkling of exciting research to come.

And you may notice that there's a logo here. It's the Annual Humpback Day logo. Last year was the first year that I started, in collaboration with the National Museum, the National Maritime Museum of Australia and CSIRO, the first ever annual humpback day.

Because, we all need to know why whale migrate and how to keep them safe in our waters. So if you are wanting to learn more about whales, you can join us for that day. Details will be announced soon, but that is something that you can take part even as well and I'm sure New South Wales education would like to celebrate that as well, which is so exciting.

The other thing here is that as a whale scientist or whatever you are planning to be when you leave school, or maybe you're thinking about leaving school now or maybe when you're 11 and 12 or maybe you're a big kid and you're thinking, ‘Oh, I don't know what I'm gonna do’.

When we have a little bit of nerves about our next step, we are actually pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone and that's okay. So when we do that, we get those butterflies, we're a bit nervous.

And the reason I have a photo of a boat here is because I love seeing whales on the water. But I'm gonna let you all into a really big secret. As a whale scientist, I get seasick. So my point to you all is that sometimes there will be things that you absolutely love doing and you just have to deal with it. And I know I get seasick and some days it's fine. And that's just a very ironic thing for a whale scientist. But remember, I grew up in Canberra. There was no ocean around me.

But now as you can see, as someone who's sharing information in different ways, the opportunity for you to go above and beyond and to seek opportunities and to ask questions will definitely allow you to really become the women and girls of our next generation in particular, given today's a very special day and for those watching on in the future, because every day should be a celebration of science and a celebration of STEAM.

And with that, I will end on this final slide and then just... I'm so excited. So using my own case as an example, we've talked about passion, which I'm sure some of you may have. Some of you might not know what you're doing yet and that's completely fine.

We've also talked about persistence and that journey. Getting there can sometimes be challenging. Oh, I'm worried I'm gonna get seasick. That's okay, who cares? When you see a whale, you'll forget about it.

It's important for you and me to continue to share knowledge because knowledge is very, very powerful. And with that, we can ultimately work towards what we want to do. And in my case, protecting whales and our blue backyard. But sharing information for generations to come so that we all can make a collective and informed decision going forward.

So with that, I say a big whaley, big thank you to all of you for streaming in. It's not the end yet, but rather I'm passing over to my most amazing human, Dr. Jasmine over there in down the line, thanks to STEAM technology who will be facilitating the questions.

Thank you all for listening.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Aw, thank you Dr. Vanessa. Thank you so much for sharing that amazing knowledge with us. I've learnt so many facts from whale hair to whale belly buttons. And we've got so many questions coming in and from so many different places, and they are also keen for more facts.

One from Evie, who is asking: why do whales only eat krill when they're such a big animal? And how do they eat krill?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

That's a great question. Well Evie, I'll let you in on another secret. Some humpback whales don't just eat krill. Ooh, some of them eat sardines or little tiny fish and some whales have to become more adaptive because the world around them is changing. Which means if they only ate krill, maybe they might have to eat other food. That's some new research coming out, maybe today.

And so how do they do this? Okay, well good thing I got my hair out today. So you can see my hair. Winston has no teeth. That's right. This whale has no teeth and he's big. And yet the food that he feeds on a krill, which are only about a few centimetres in length, why? Because what Winston's able to do is to feed on a lot of these and ball them up. Not with these flippers, but I'll show you how. And pack in a lot at one time. Okay, that's kind of like you, and I'm not saying do this, but maybe you're eating your cereal and you just go, wow, I've got the bowl of cereal in front of me. I'm gonna be a humpback whale and make sure I get all of those in in one go. Don't do that. We don't have to 'cause we've got teeth we can crunch, crunch, crunch.

So what Winston does, he uses his baleen plates, which are hair like structures at the front of his mouth. Oh, I did all right. I think I got it in a shot. And he will open his mouth if there's some food there. So he has these big long lines down his stomach and that'll open up like a slinky, okay? Open up really, really wide and his mouth will open wide, opening up so wide, and then when there's krill there, hopefully they're in a big ball, he'll come up and then scoot them all at once. So he is a large animal, but they eat a lot of krill. So the idea is that if I'm gonna be a whale and I'm gonna eat, I'm gonna make sure that the effort I put into eating will be far outweigh how much effort I've put in. So I'm gonna get a lot more food for how much effort I used.

And Winston, once he opens his mouth up, engulfs the prey using the hair, shuts the mouth. So he'll shut his mouth like this, but his stomach, his throat would be very full up. I got food in there. And then using the hair like plates, the baleen plates, he'll expel the water on the side of his mouth. Okay, do, do, do, out it will come. And then, raise his tongue up to the roof of his mouth and then swallow the food.

If you want to see this in slow motion, I'm not gonna do it in slow motion, but you could watch finding ‘Finding Nemo’, Nemo. Except Nemo's dad, Marlin and Dory, when they're in the mouth, okay? You'll see that Dory rubs herself up against the baleen plates and then pfft out through the nose. That doesn't happen in a whale. Sorry, just to ruin that. So if yours to be swallowed by a whale, which we as humans can't be because their oesophagus is only about 20 centimetres wide. My head might fit, but the rest can't. You go out the other end, which is pfft the poo end. So there you go. So hopefully that answers that question. And I know we probably have a lot of questions, so I'll make sure my responses are rapid as well.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Excellent, the next one can be a quick fire. Kylie would like to know how many different types of whale are there?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh my goodness, this is a question I get all the time. Well, the answer is in Australian waters, there are at least over, so there's of whales, dolphins, and porpoises, there's over 45 different species. Of the large whales in Australia, we have over eight. But in terms of, is that a whale? Is that a dolphin? Ooh, the scientific world continues to learn more.

So collectively, of whales and dolphins and porpoises. Collectively, there's at least over 70 worldwide, that's a very general number. And the reason I'm saying that is because I'm just writing a paper right now and a whale species of genetics that I collected is of a whale that was only recently described in 2021, which means there might be more species out there than we really know about. But it's only through good science now, or at least the technology that we're learning more. How cool is that? So watch this space, if we do this talk again Jasmine, it might be like, well actually I've got an update. We now have, you know, 223 or whatever number it will be in the future.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Oh well, this is all relevant to Liana from Lord Howe Central School question. Yeah, Liana is wondering what is the rarest whale you've ever seen and how can we support you best as citizen scientists from our remote island?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh my goodness, Lord Howe Island? That is, Jasmine, have I got that right? That's Lord Howe Island we're beaming. Stop, oh my goodness. Well first I need to come and visit and I'm so happy to your parents, guardians, whoever facilitated you watching this right now. That's cool.

Okay, so the rarest whale I've ever seen, oh, well I would have to say it was a humpback whale, which is not really rare, right? But it was Migaloo. And Migaloo is completely white. And I also saw Siale last year, which is like looking for a bus-sized four-leaf clover in your garden.

But seeing as you are geographically in Lord Howe Island, I'm very excited because you are on an island, which means your backyard is an opportunity to see things every day. You could be having your cereal and spot a whale that I probably have never seen before. Do you know how cool that is? Okay, so with that, one of the coolest things is that social media, if you are over 16 obviously, but big kids, young kids, if people see something, they can snap a photo or a video and go and email me. I can provide my email and go, ‘Vanessa, I think I saw something interesting. I dunno what it was’ and then I can try and identify it.

Right now my friends are in Antarctica on a research voyage and they sent me a photo of a whale they saw the other day and I was proud to say it was a blue whale. So where you are located right now, you are on an island which is geographically placed to see some really cool animals. If you want, you can just simply email them to me and we can provide that after. But just remember, because that area of where you are, you are likely to have different whale traffic, which means that one of the other things I'm trying to do as a scientist in Australia is to help people see things across the entire year, not just when Winston is around, because we do have a diversity of marine life and whales year round in Australia and around Lord Howe Island. But it's just that we are more connected than ever, which means we can tell these stories of when someone sees something and we can identify it and give it to science as well, which is amazing.

So please, if you see something, if you have photos and you don't know what they are, send them to me and we can learn together.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Oh, I love that the people on the line can already be citizen marine biologist. I have a question from Marissa, which is: What are the best subjects for me to study to become a genuine marine biologist?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh, love this question. Okay, so when I was in primary school, I thought I had to go to James Cook University and study marine science. That's it, that's what I thought. And then I took a gap year off and I studied in England or I hung out in England and then I came back and I was meant to go to another university, and I wanted to stay at home with mum and dad or at least while I studied because it's okay to do that. And then I did a Bachelor of Science.

So what I would say to you, if you are in high school and you're maybe thinking about year 11 and 12, you're going to that subjects, biology is a good one. Okay, so that's a really good one. And not to give university subjects as well, biology's really good, English and maths are really great. I know you're probably like, oh, Vanessa is boring, but we write every day, we speak every day and maths, well, if you are good at statistics, I'm not very good at maths, but you'll be really loved in the marine mammal world. So that's another thing. So thinking about those subjects, chemistry is also a really good one.

If you are thinking of going to university, a Bachelor of Science is really good as well. I think I may have said a Bachelor of Science before, but the reason I said that is because we always think that we have to study pure marine science. But when we get into these roles as marine biologists or marine scientists, the work that we do is quite diverse. And you also need to be adaptable. But you need to think about it as well. We all have transferable skills that can go into marine science or it can go into economics and you need to be aware of that. So for example, right now I'm coming to you from Parramatta here and I'm not a skilled expert when it comes to digital media, but I'm sure that some of my skills as a marine scientist would be able to enable me to run this somehow or at least work with the team collaboratively. So it's all picking subjects that A, you are interested in; and B, that will give you a platter of options. So if you're in year 11 and 12, Maths, English, Chemistry if you like, Biology is great. And if you're interested in two things, then that's fine, Just try and do a combination.

University students, you can do a pure marine science course or you could do a Bachelor of Science and then you become more specialised as you go on. That's important to note. So if you're kind of like, ‘Oh, I don't really know what I wanna do, or if I'm really set on becoming a marine biologist’, then making sure you're equip yourself with those good foundation skills. Because if you become a marine biologist, I became a dolphin trainer, and I was like hmm, this is not everything. So then I went on and did other things, and that's okay. So just know if you are on your journey, your journey might go from here, here or here, or you might not even know what your journey is yet, but just trust in the process. And for all those students or people who are working part-time jobs, the skills that you're getting in those jobs right now, whether it be at McDonald's or wherever you are working, their skills that you'll take into jobs going forward, working within a team, being able to work by yourself, those kind of things are important and that's what you need as a scientist as well.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Yes, we're all on a journey and it continues. And this question from Kate is about your continuing journey. So with your study of humpback whales, is there anything that still confuses you about them?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Yes, every day! Why was a humpback whale that was born in the Kingdom of Tonga that's completely white, turned up on our east coast outside of whale season. What? Why? And the reason we're able to work out that that whale was Siale. So there was a white whale that was born in the Kingdom of Tonga in 2024. And then last year in November, December, she was that white whale was seen off Sydney. And the reason we were able to tell it was the same whale was based on the fluke. So it's a fluke. The tail fluke of a whale is like our fingerprints. They're unique to you and I.

And so through artificial intelligence and photos we're able to work out it was her. And the questions I have from that was, why is she here? Is it because she's completely a different looking whale that she's not hanging out the pod? But we know Migaloo hangs out with the pod. So that's a big question.

The other question I still have: is how do these whales know how to get from Antarctica all the way to a little island in the Kingdom of Tonga or off the east coast here in Australia? How? There is not one person in the world who can answer that question. Some people might say it's using the stars magnetic navigation. This is beyond what we're talking about today. There are other factors at play, but still that fundamental knowledge of how do they do it. I've gone on the ship from Antarctica back to Australia and I can tell you it just looks the same to me.

That's why in ‘The Voyage of Whale and Calf’ book I tried to capture that because the sounds of the ocean differs. We know some humpback whales go quiet when there's... To avoid being seen by killer whales. And we know that some whales, the females that are, they will whisper to their calf so other males don't hear that they're there and other killer whales don't hear that they're there as well. So, it's all very clever.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Oh wow, thank you so much.

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Great question.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

So much. Oh, that's fantastic. So then you mentioned that you can recognise different whales. Zoe from Summer Hill Primary School wants to know if whales recognise each other and do they have friends?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh, that's so cool. That's a great question. So we do know that some whales are friends and I'll use Migaloo the white whale in particular because he is a white whale. We've seen Migaloo, I've only seen him once in my life, but people have seen him multiple times with the same whale. So that's a direct example of that they have friends. They are probably more... How do I say this? We don't yet understand if the whales are swimming along and go, ‘Mm, haloo Jeff!’ Or ‘Mm, Pete, nice to see you. I saw you 2023 season. That was a good one’. Because the males are the ones that sing and they will sing a song, to attract the ladies and it's kind of like the Triple J's hottest 100. If they singing what they sung this year, it won't be cool next year. But the New Zealand gang might take that up or you know, out to sea further off. So I don't really know if they look at each other and go ‘Stella looking fabulous today’. I'm not sure and I don't think anyone knows that. But because they're like you and I, they're very social, they probably hang out more than we think.

But that is another great question that I would love to answer in this lifetime is just so much. And so I think you can see legitimately as a scientist, we have so much more to learn and maybe one of you watching this right now, whether you're in the middle of Australia or Lord Howe Island or internationally, if you're international, let us know where you are. Maybe one of you will be answering that question and I'll be maybe retired watching whale on a boat going, ‘Oh great, that student worked that out fantastic’ and we can hang out and have a cup of tea.

So maybe you might be answering these questions, Dr. Jasmine? Can you believe that they might well be answering the questions?

Dr Jasmine Fellows

They're already coming up with these questions for other scientists or themselves in the future. So let's talk a little bit about that scientific process next. Bronwyn from Griffith High School is interested in the process that you used to come up with the idea to use the drone to collect the whale snot.

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh well, that's a great question. So when I was a PhD student I was like okay, I'm gonna dedicate three years of my life to making a difference. And one of those differences is was I wanted to understand whale health, but I also really liked the idea of tech. So when it to looking at how whale information is collected, you'll love this, 'cause this goes through a variety of methods. So to collect skin samples from whales, sometimes scientists will shoot a little dart at them and it'll go pop like that. Well, it's not really the sound and it'll create like a little blubber sample and we can collect genetics from that.

But I wanted a way that we could access the whales from internally without having them touched at all. So the idea of the drone was to go, okay, well what do whales produce a lot of... No, not that end. But when they're in Australia, they breathe a lot so they're not necessarily pooing a lot. So they'll breathe a lot. And we wanted to make sure that when they breathe, their breath when it came up, we were thinking, is there a way we could harness that? And so the drones were naturally at the time, gosh, nearly 10 years ago, the wonderful opportunity where we could go and collect something using this thing that was remote to collect it from a whale that had probably no idea we were doing it. And we did it. And so watch this space for the next part of that research, which was very exciting.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

We've got so many more questions here for Dr. Vanessa. And we've got a whole bunch in the audience who are really keen on facts. So Mads Hansen would like to know: how big is a baby whale?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Was that, how big is a baby whale? That was that, right?

Dr Jasmine Fellows

That is the question.

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh my goodness me. Okay, so a baby whale, if you came to school in your car today, that's how long a baby whale is. Now if you have a limousine, you are just... No, that is not how big a baby whale is. A baby whale is at least two to three metres long. And Jasmine, I'd just have to explain. When a baby whale is born, in their mum's tummy, they're like this [Vanessa tucks Winstons tale towards his belly to demonstrate how a baby whale lies in the tummy]. They're all curled up. And then when they come out, boop and then boop, [Vanessa untucks Winstons tale] and then the first thing they do is come to the surface to breathe. So hopefully that helps. But I've never seen a whale born. In fact, it's very rare to see that. Good question.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Kylie Bailey is asking: how good is the whale's vision and hearing?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh, they're hearing is way better than they're seeing, their sight. So if you shut your eyes, you could hear them. So whale sound travels kilometres long. So I could be having a conversation here in Parramatta and then maybe in... Oh Leichhardt, they might be able to hear me. That's so if you're in Canberra, that's kind of like you being a parliament house and having a conversation with someone at the airport. I'm just thinking. So it's kilometres, okay? And their eyesight, not very good. I mean they can see, but they rely on hearing more than they rely on seeing. So in the ocean, if you can hear, you can really locate where you are.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Great, Hunter in year six from Mount Brown primary school asks: how do whales sleep?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh, sometimes they sleep like this, [Vanessa holds Winston the whale vertically, head to the sky] sometimes they sleep like this [Vanessa holds Winston horizontally] and sometimes they sleep at the bottom of the ocean like this [Vanessa holds Winston horizontally]. And they will only snack sleep. So they can't... So like us, there's no bed, they don't lie down, okay? I'm gonna stretch my flukes out, my flippers, wrap myself up and go to sleep. No, no, no, no. They will take a breath, and then depending on where they are, if it's safe, they'll then sit at the surface and they'll just some of them log like this, they don't necessarily go shut their eyes, but some of them do. Sperm whales, they are so cool, they will sleep like this [Vanessa holds Winston vertically, head to the sky] and I've once seen a humpback whale sleeping like that in Tonga [Vanessa holds Winston diagonally, head pointing down to the ground]. Just like that, hanging out and it was just like swimming and swimming and then all of a sudden I see this whale and it's just amazing. And then it just... when it wanted to come up to the surface, it moved its arms so slightly and just came up and then pfft. So beautiful to see. So they snack sleep, they'll sleep for about 20 minutes or so because they need to remember to come up to, whoo, breathe. That's very important.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Excellent. Sophie from Crookwell High School wants to know: how far does a humpback travel through its migration route?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh, hello to all those in Crookwell, that's a very nice place. They will travel at least a round trip migration can be more than 10,000 kilometres. So that is a long journey. The journey from Antarctica maybe here to up, up, up, up, up East coast. That can take weeks, months even. But then sometimes some of them swim and they go, ‘Oh yeah, let's just enjoy some time here’. Or they might play with dolphins or they investigate humans. It's all interesting on the humpback highway and you never know what you might see. So whale watching season is coming up, you never know what you might see. But just to think whenever you see a whale, they have just travelled on a path that is kilometres, kilometres long and they've done it all by knowing how to go where they go. It's incredible and it's a moment in time that they see, and it's a moment in time that you see as well. So short answer, five to 10,000 kilometres round trip, or probably more.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Well, considering I struggle with my five to 10 kilometres jog on the weekend. I'm very impressed by those whales.

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Yay! Dr. Jasmine is very impressive.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

A question from Queensland: why do whales beach themselves?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh my gosh, that's a really big question. We don't unfortunately know.

And when a whale comes ashore, you sometimes see the they strand and we just don't know why. And so one of the reasons being is that they might be sick, ill health or maybe they just dunno where they're going and they've just disorientated. But what's one of the biggest questions I'd like to answer in my career, why do they strand? If you see a stranded whale, the first thing you need to do is not touch it. You need to tell authorities. So wherever you are in Australia, there will be government agencies there to help you. There's also Orca on the east coast, but all around as well, where you can tell someone who can help. And that's very important, because a stranded whale, one of the things is when they are on the beach, they're so heavy they've never even felt their body before. And when they strand, some of them might die because they've got so much weight on their lungs and their heart. And then they might unfortunately pass. So big question, and hopefully you watching might be able to help provide us with the answers in the future.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Oh, that's really important info to know if you do spot the whale that is beached. So Emmy next has a question: why are albino whales white?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh, albino whales. Okay, this always comes up. Albino whales, they unfortunately, well not unfortunately, I think they're really cool. They lack melanin, melanin, if I can say that right. So Winston's a typical looking humpback whale. With a white whale, kind of like Winston's underneath, they're just lacking the pigmentation that gives them that colour. Now I don't know if it's better to be a completely white albino whale or if it's better to blend in with the environment. So when you see a humpback whale, they've got counter shading, which means they're dark on top. So if you're looking down at them, they match in with the ocean.

But if you look from below, they're nice and light. So they blend in with the light sky. That's called counter shading. Killer whales are a really good example of that. But if you're a white whale, you lack that pigmentation and you are seen more. So some people will say that it's probably less favourable to be completely white as a humpback whale because predators might see you a lot easier. But I know from the science world, by being able to spot a bus size white animal is really helpful because people will take photos and tell us about it. So if you spot a white whale, you should tell someone. But also white whales are that way because that's how they're born and that's their genetics. And also, it's just a lack of pigmentation. But they're just essentially like every other humpback whale, they just look a little different.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

And we've got one last question from Ava who'd like to know: do whales feel empathy for other species?

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh, okay, that's a really good one. This is a good one. Do they for for other species? Look, there has been cases where humpback whales have been observed fighting and protecting for other non-humpback whales. That's an example.

But in terms of for their own, now I know we've got lots of ages here, but for sure their own species, mothers will do absolutely everything they can to protect their young, and that's really important. So a mother humpback whale will absolutely defend her calf. And one of the ways that they do that is they will raise the calf on top of their body, out of the water to get away from other animals.

And with killer whales, for example, there's been cases where unfortunately a mama killer whale, they've lost their baby or their baby's passed for some reason, maybe not too healthy. And they will stay with that baby for weeks and then still swim with it and carry it. So they are very caring, they're very social like us. They can defend other whales who are in trouble. Some whales will be there to stay and help out. The humpback whales are a fight species, which means if presented with danger, they may defend themselves.

Whereas other species, they're a flight species where if there's danger, poof, off they go. And so they're kind of like us sometimes if we're confronted by something, we might want to go, okay, no, ‘I've got the gusto today to say, it's okay, I'm gonna be here or I'm not really ready for that today’ and then I might walk away, that kind of thing. So flight or fight species, humpback whales are fight species and they will protect others. They will definitely protect their own species.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Aw, thank you so much Vanessa. I feel like I know whales so much better now through having this chat today.

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Oh, I'm so happy. Thank you so much. And I can't wait to see where all the questions where they've come from.

Dr Jasmine Fellows

Yes, so that's all from us today, it's time for us to say goodbye. Bye everyone.

Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Bye, thank you so much.

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