Natalie Mastick

I grew up in Northern California, raised by a nurse practitioner and a landscape architect that instilled in me both a fascination for science and a love of nature at an early age. I have loved marine mammals since my first trips to the coast. I had little interest in captive animals beyond the excitement of seeing dolphins and killer whales up close; it was the way those marine mammals worked in their natural habitats that made me wonder and inspired me to ask questions.

I never thought I would work with whales, but I have become particularly fascinated humpback whales because they are so unique among normally solitary baleen whales. Baleen whales are nothing like other cetaceans--they don't form matrilineal groups, cliques, or male-male pairs like some dolphins and killer whales. Yet humpbacks have learned to work together despite their relatively solitary nature to exploit their prey and master their environment. If you think about it, bubble-net feeding is an incredible behavior. Somehow these whales learned to blow bubbles not just for exhalation but to manipulate their prey. And then they learned to coordinate that behavior so that more whales could benefit. I began this research on group foraging in humpback whales as an undergraduate and for every new thing I learn, more research questions pop up. I am so amazed by these whales and inspired by their behaviors that I am planning on pursuing a PhD to research social learning and foraging in humpbacks.

January 2016