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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Very happy to be presenting and performing at COMAR at Strathclyde Uni (Glasgow) this Tuesday 6 Oct. It should be a great day of talks and discussions around water futures... QR code takes you to Eventbrite link. Come for the whole day or just drop in for a session!

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Having been thinking/writing about pilot whale strandings recently, I'm much relieved to see that the pod in the Thames appears to have been successfully herded back into the North Sea by British Divers Marine Life Rescue. 🐬🐬🐬https://bdmlr.org.uk/pilot-whales-sighted-in-the-river-thames

bdmlr.org.uk

Pilot Whales Sighted in the River Thames (last updated 20/09/26 10:00) - British Divers Marine Life Rescue

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This balanced article raises many important ethical questions around Iceland's commercial #whaling, and points to its reframing as an animal welfare issue. (1/3)

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Very happy to see my Open Access article 'Cetacean Strandings: On Sound and Sociability' out now in Green Letters! Many thanks to friends and colleagues (including @sebnemsaraeva.bsky.social) who helped me to work through the ideas. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

Cetacean Strandings: Of Sound and Sociability

In recent decades, recorded strandings of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) have been increasing globally. Cetaceans are recognised as ecosystem and climate sentinels, and their strandings ar...

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

It's great to see The Biology of Music - Interdisciplinary Insights edited by @andrearavignani.bsky.social out in the wild! I have a co-authored chapter in there on #animalmusicking, with @emilydoolittle.bsky.social and Pralle Kriengwatana. academic.oup.com/book/63102.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Great new paper out on the shifting structure of bowhead whale song! 🐋

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Cool paper out on sperm whale codas in the Mediterranean from @taylorhersh.bsky.social and co-authors including @lrendell.bsky.social. New evidence for the evolution of vocal cultures! 🐋

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

It's nearly a year since the 'Keening-Song of the Stranding' event in Lewis with Sam Gare, Aya Kobayashi, @nordicviola.bsky.social and Nerea Bello. Sam and I are presenting on it today at 1300 at this 'Fixing Our Broken Planet' webinar - do drop by! events.teams.microsoft.com/event/61b21c...

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Very happy to be visiting Fetlar (Shetland) 9 June to perform music by @emilydoolittle.bsky.social inspired by the folk tale Jan Tait and the Bear, plus works in which the clarinet evokes the sounds of gannets and whales.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

On Thursday 7 May I'll be at the Music Centre in St Andrews, helping to lead workshops on the impact of anthropogenic noise pollution on the communication of whales and dolphins. We still have a few spaces free, do sign up if you're interested! forms.cloud.microsoft/e/nEZQsDBNwL

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Interesting CFP up from Acoustic Ecology Review journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/ae... Expression of Interest deadline 15 May 2026.

journals.lib.sfu.ca

Acoustic Ecology Review (AER) – Call for Papers | Acoustic Ecology Review

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

I'm talking on human-cetacean sonic relationships in connnection with whale strandings on Mon 27 April at 1815 UK time, in the 'Art and the Anthropocene' series at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Please do tune in online! www.rcs.ac.uk/whats-on/exc... Image by Phil Hall, artwork by Sam Gare,

rcs.ac.uk

Exchange Talk: Multispecies Sonic Socialities and the Sound of Stranding | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Very happy to be playing with @jerreid.bsky.social and the rest of the Collective Endeavours crew in Glasgow next Tuesday 24 March! Expect the unexpected... Event page here fb.me/e/3AddzBTse

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Very happy to contribute a short section to 'Music Defined: A Provocation' (Taylor et al 2026), out now in 'Tempo' in the first issue from its new home at Wolke Verlag. I look at the sampling of whale song field recordings. www.wolke-verlag.de/en/shop/temp...

wolke-verlag.de

Tempo - Wolke Verlag

Tempo is the international journal for contemporary music, featuring essays, interviews and reviews on new works, current debates and music today.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

This looks like a cool way to explore sequences of animal vocalizations! Thanks for sharing @masonyoungblood.bsky.social

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Short audio paper out now on deep listening to migratory whales in our changing underwater environments. Reposting with hashtags! #MarineMammals #ecomusicology #envhum #bioacoustics 🐋

seismograf.org

Sounding migrations

Deep listening and the acoustic phenology of whale song

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Very happy to have my 'Sounding migrations: Deep listening and the acoustic phenology of whale song' published in this brilliant collection of audio papers from Seismograf Peer. Do have a listen and let me know what you think! seismograf.org/fokus/sound-...

seismograf.org

Sound and the More-Than-Human Worlds

19 audio papers on sound, technology, and listening beyond the human

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Great short article out from @sebnemsaraeva.bsky.social, asking important ethical questions about possible interspecies human-whale communication, from the perspective of translation studies. "Most importantly, who will be the translators and interpreters in human-whale encounters?" #bioacoustics

mothrights.org

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

'Keening - Song of the Stranding' album launched today to commemorate the mass stranding of pilot whales that occurred in Lewis in July 2023. Please have a listen! Musical collaboration with @nordicviola.bsky.social and Nerea Bello. alexsouth.bandcamp.com/album/keenin...

alexsouth.bandcamp.com

Keening - Song of the Stranding, by Keening - Song of the Stranding

3 track album

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Reposted by Alex South

Emily Doolittle @emilydoolittle.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

A collaboration between me, @amsouth.bsky.social & Lesley Harrison, performed at @rethinkingfable.bsky.social (www.rethinking-fables.org.uk). Lesley & Alex weave together pieces by me and Alex and a poem by Lesley to create a new fable, "The Gannet and the Whale". www.youtube.com/watch?v=r55d...

youtube.com

The Gannet and the Whale (May 24, 2025, Rethinking Fables)

YouTube video by Kaori Nagai

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Here's a short blog I wrote for @iashedinburgh.bsky.social about a recent visit to @hias-hamburg.bsky.social. Had some fun sharing ideas about artistic research with a fabulous group of NetIAS scholars from across Europe. www.iash.ed.ac.uk/news/what-do...

iash.ed.ac.uk

What do we mean by Artistic Research if we really mean it? | IASH

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Happy that "The Fox" is back in the water again, heading north to Orkney in September with a preview performance in Dunblane 31 August.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Great to hear that the Multispecies Sound and Movement Study Group has been approved as an official study group of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance. Further, that the study group board will be curating a special issue of the AAWM Journal of Music and Nature. CFP below.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

This looks like an interesting paper on cultural evolution, in that it moves the focus away from more-or-less passive consumers. However, let's not forget that in many cultures (including Western subcultures), the dominant model of 'production' vs 'consumption' is far less relevant.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Super-excited to be performing in UNESCO's #WeekOfSound in Edinburgh next Monday with Una MacGlone. Composed/improvised musics inspired by sounds and environments #BeneathTheWaves. University West Court 7pm. digital.eca.ed.ac.uk/weekofsound/...

digital.eca.ed.ac.uk

At a glance – UNESCO Week of Sound in Edinburgh

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Very excited to be part of the next phase of this project led by writer @rebeccasharp.bsky.social. Music very much inspired by important places in the legend of Tenew/Thaney, including Traprain Law, Aberlady Bay, and Culross #TheBorders #CreativeScotland.

rebeccajoysharp.com

New work: Maiden Mother Mage | Rebecca Sharp

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Great to see our interdisciplinary paper on music and animal welfare out in the journal Animal Behaviour. Very much a team effort with @emilydoolittle.bsky.social, @ruedinager.bsky.social and Martin Ullrich, steered by Pralle Kriengwatana. authors.elsevier.com/a/1kYdDmjMA3XG

authors.elsevier.com

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

This lovely programme discusses the killer whale populations in the waters around the Shetland Islands, and the vocalizations they use. Nice to hear one of my PhD supervisors @emilydoolittle.bsky.social 🐋https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0026w74

bbc.co.uk

Beyond the Briggistanes - 16/01/2025 - BBC Sounds

Exploring Shetland's natural heritage, environment issues and out of doors activities.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Over the past c.20 years @rothenbird.bsky.social has done more than just about anyone to draw public attention to the musicality of the sounds of whales. My review of his 'Whale Music' is out now in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies doi.org/10.1386/jivs... 🐋#cetaceancitations

doi.org

Whale Music, David Rothenberg (2023) | Intellect

Review of: Whale Music, David Rothenberg (2023) Cambridge, MA: Terra Nova Press, 376 pp., ISBN 978-1-94959-725-7, p/bk, $27.95

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Wonderful to see that the Ocean has been elected to be a Trustee on the board of the Scottish Association for Marine Science, in an attempt to shift the dial further away from anthropocentric attitudes. Highly relevant to the #MOTH project (MOre Than Human rights). #SAMS #CetaceanCitations

sams.ac.uk

The Ocean enters the boardroom

'Ocean trustee' election is a

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

New study out of humpback whale paternity patterns in a South Pacific population recovering from intensive whaling. I was particularly interested to read that these results suggest higher levels of interchange between populations than previous estimates.🐋

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Interesting paper out examining the ethics of human intervention designed to reduce suffering in wild animals.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Planning on learning this great piece by @emilydoolittle.bsky.social soon! Details to follow.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

There's a great compilation of online resources for music scholarship (including journals) at H-Music (a branch of @h-net-humanities.bsky.social ) networks.h-net.org/h-music

networks.h-net.org

H-Music | H-Net

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 12/07/2024

My first sight of my hardbound thesis #cetaceancitations. The wonderful @lrendell.bsky.social has had a busy year of steering PhD studentships into safe harbours (in some cases not quite the destinations originally envisaged!)

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 08/07/2024

Slightly misleading headline, but health/stress indicators in this humpback whale population showed 2021 was a better year than 2020. In original paper authors are careful not to link this with any specific anthropogenic factors. Longer datasets required methinks! #marinemammals 🐳

phys.org

Research finds humpbacks were happier during pandemic pause

University of Queensland-led research has found migrating humpback whales off Australia's east coast became less stressed over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research paper is published ...

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 04/07/2024

Interesting-looking paper on Bergson's view on animal consciousness, and implications for the scientific study of animal creativity/inventiveness/innovation in animal cultures. It's in French so I'll need to put time aside to read it.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 04/07/2024

Detailed survey of ocean floor off California found far more large whale skeletons than had been predicted. #whale #whalefall #marinemammals 🐳

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 03/07/2024

This looks great, looking forward to review from @bjking.bsky.social

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 25/06/2024

Sorry to see that my belief that #wolves reversed ecological changes in Yellowstone Park may not be grounded on good evidence... #trophiccascade. This #natgeo article cites exptl work by Hobbs et al 2024.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 25/06/2024

#whalesgettingsmaller Drone studies show that #graywhales are shorter than they were in 2000, likely due to declining habitat quality associated with #globalheating

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 24/06/2024

Super-interesting conversation on Martin Wikelski's 'The Internet of Animals', Kapka Kassabova's Anima, and Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas's research into technologically-mediated animal communication, e.g. video-calling for parrots. #animalcommunication #internetofanimals www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

bbc.co.uk

Start the Week - Animal communication - BBC Sounds

Tom Sutcliffe with Martin Wikelski, Kapka Kassabova and Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 21/06/2024

Yet more evidence that same-sex sexual behaviour is widespread in other animals yet rarely makes it into scientific journals. Original study by Andersen et al. published in PLoS One #animalhomosexuality

theguardian.com

Animal homosexual behaviour under-reported by scientists, survey shows

Study finds same-sex sexual behaviour in primates and other mammals widely observed but seldom published

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Reposted by Alex South

joeymaier 🌊 @joeymaier.bsky.social · 21/06/2024

Here's NOAA's take on #windmills and #whales: "At this point, there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site...cause whale deaths. There are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities." www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-...

fisheries.noaa.gov

Frequent Questions—Offshore Wind and Whales

What does NOAA Fisheries do to minimize the impact of offshore wind development on whales? NOAA Fisheries helps avoid and minimize impacts to protected species and their habitats throughout the life c...

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 20/06/2024

"ChatGPT is bullshit" is a fun read and I think nails something important about LLMs: there's no difference to the model when its output is true, and when it isn't. It's not that sometimes it's concerned with truth and sometimes it's hallucinating, it's that it's always bullshitting.

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Alex South @amsouth.bsky.social · 20/06/2024

Great new open source article from Hersh et al on how the study of cetacean vocal rhythms might shed light on the adaptive functions of rhythm more generally. Nice overview of what is known, and reminder of the vast amount that remains unknown... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

pnas.org

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

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