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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Meet our Churchill beluga of the day: “Crossnotch”! We’ve spotted this whale several times since July, cruising up and down the pier, sometimes snagging fish along the way🐟 We think that Crossnotch uses the port wall to help corral prey, a clever foraging trick if so! #Churchill #beluga #photoID

A white beluga in dark water, coming up for a breath. The whale has a distinctive notch in the dorsal ridge and a curved scar behind the blowhole

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Fieldwork in Churchill, Manitoba! We've been watching and recording the belugas of the Churchill River for over a week now. Stay tuned for beluga facts and updates on our best observations! @raincoast.org @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social

Two white belugas swimming in dark waters

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Fieldwork in Churchill, Manitoba! We've been watching and recording the belugas of the Churchill River for over a week now. We’re documenting the behaviour and vocalisations of the whales and their responses to noise. Stay tuned for beluga facts and updates on our best observations! @raincoast.org

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Reposted by Jaclyn Aubin

Raincoast Conservation Foundation @raincoast.org · 06/02/2026

New scientific review highlights the complex and culturally rich social lives of beluga whales: #belugas live in multilevel, dynamic societies shaped by kinship, sex, and culture. www.raincoast.org/2026/02/soci...

raincoast.org

The social and cultural lives of belugas | Raincoast

Exploring beluga sociality and culture through the lens of behaviourial and evolutionary ecology.

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Our new paper on beluga spatial structure is now published in Animal Behaviour! Here is the story of what we found 🧵1/6 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @marine-valeria.bsky.social @dmennill.bsky.social @raincoast.org

Overhead image of a group of belugas swimming in dark water. The title page of the paper is overlaid. It reads “From calls to communities: Acoustic monitoring of contact calls indicates spatial structure in endangered belugas”

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Dan Mennill @dmennill.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Motus Audio Day 56: Moncton, NB. Mission complete — our 100th Motus Audio recorder! Madison and Natalie deployed our 100th device in Moncton, hitting our target for 2026. A major milestone! 🇨🇦🎤🕊️💯 Explore our Canada-wide network: motus-audio.web.app @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social @birdscanada.bsky.social

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Valeria Vergara @marine-valeria.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

“More recent research deepened the mystery, suggesting a complex sort of sociality that defied simple categorization” writes @jaclynaubin.bsky.social - Curious? Read on!

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Dan Mennill @dmennill.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

"Belugas travel to warm, shallow estuaries to give birth and care for their young. Knowledge holders inform us that some of these estuaries have been visited by belugas for several hundred years. But not just any estuary will do!" A summary of our new BES paper by @jaclynaubin.bsky.social 👇

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Dan Mennill @dmennill.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

We have a new paper out this week "Beluga societies: the social and cultural lives of an enigmatic odontocete" led by @jaclynaubin.bsky.social. Our collaborators @raincoast.org have made this cool video highlighting some key elements of our paper. Check it out: 👇

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Raincoast Conservation Foundation @raincoast.org · 21/01/2026

Do belugas have bromances? A new scientific review by a research team including Raincoast scientists just dropped at Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, bringing together decades of research to provide the most complete picture yet of the social nature of belugas. www.raincoast.org/2026/01/do-b...

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Our new review of beluga sociality and culture just dropped at Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology! Some of our key conclusions summarized 🧵 doi.org/10.1007/s002... @marine-valeria.bsky.social @dmennill.bsky.social @raincoast.org

A white beluga surfacing in greenish-brown waters. Overlaid is the title of a new review published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology: Beluga Societies: the social and cultural lives of an enigmatic odontocete.

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

#belugafact: Did you know that tail shape can help differentiate male and female belugas? As males mature, their tail become more curved and heart-shaped❤️, while female tails remain relatively straight at the bottom edge. Figure adapted from Vladykov (1944)

A line diagram illustrating how male and female beluga tails grow and change shape as they age. The female diagram shows the tail increasing in size but remaining the same shape. The male diagram below shows the tail increasing in size and becoming more convex. A scale bar shows that female tails reach a width of approximately. The figure is attributed to Vladykov (1944).

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Counting beluga surface behaviours on the Churchill River to understand the impacts of noise! Does underwater noise affect how often belugas show their tails when diving, a behaviour that may be linked to feeding? Excited to find out! @raincoast.org @uwindsor.bsky.social Photo: Marie-Ana Mikus

Calm greyish waters with a few white belugas backs visible at the surface and just below the surface. One white beluga tail is visible above the surface.

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Out on the @explore.org @polarbearsinternational.org beluga boat with Captain Tera yesterday! Really challenging conditions but crystal-clear waters allowed for some amazing observations. Thanks to Frontiers North Adventures, @raincoast.org and Oceans North! #BelugaResearch #adayinthefield

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

So thrilled to be back in Churchill, learning about beluga vocal and social behaviour. Marie-Ana and I are here for the first field season of my postdoc project in collaboration with @raincoast.org, Frontiers North Adventures, Oceans North, @uwindsor.bsky.social, and @dmennill.bsky.social

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Sarah Dobney @sdobney.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

The Savannah Sparrows are officially nesting on Kent Island! Our team found the first nest yesterday with 4 eggs 🥚. The happy couple is N.WB & B.RN, returning birds from 2024. Check in as we find more! @dmennill.bsky.social @ryannorrissci.bsky.social @jaclynaubin.bsky.social @nelsyninor.bsky.social

Ground nest with four eggs, hidden under blueberry bush.

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Sarah Dobney @sdobney.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Meet LO.N, a male Savannah Sparrow living on Kent Island, NB, Canada. We know he hatched ~11 mon. ago, on this very island. We know his parents. We know his song. We even know the exact male he learned his song from! Can't wait to learn more about LO.N as the season continues! #longtermdata #birds

Image of LO.N in the hand (handled and banded with permits). Photo y Natalie Emerick.

Image of spectrogram of LO.N's song, recorded by Natalie Emerick in May 2025.

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Very pleased to announce that I have successfully defended my doctoral dissertation! Huge thanks to my supervisory committee, @dmennill.bsky.social, @marine-valeria.bsky.social, @lrendell.bsky.social, Robert Michaud, Christina Semeniuk, Nigel Hussey, and Aaron Fisk! @uwindsor.bsky.social

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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Tremendous news! Our paper "Fly with care: belugas show evasive responses to low altitude drone flights" (doi.org/10.1111/mms....) was recently recognized as a top ten most-cited article in Marine Mammal Science for 2023. Thanks to everyone who made this work possible! #TopCitedArticle

@dmennill.bsky.social @marine-valeria.bsky.social‬ @uwindsor.bsky.social @raincoast.org @wiley.com @marinemammalogy.bsky.social

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