Philippa Brakes

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Research Fellow at Whale and Dolphin Conservation/University of Exeter

The three orders which comprise the extant marine mammals exhibit a wide range of behaviors, varying social structures, and differences in social information use. Human impacts on marine mammals and their environments are ubiquitous; from chemical and noise pollution, to marine debris, prey depletion, and ocean acidification. As a result, no marine...

Group living has a number of potential ecological and animal welfare benefits. The social environment of the 90 or so species of cetaceans is highly diverse, ranging from the complex third-order alliances of male bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.), to the matrilineal societies of pilot whales (Globicephala sp.), to the apparently less social beaked...

The incidental capture of cetaceans and other protected marine wildlife in fishing gear has significant welfare implications. Many thousands of cetaceans are bycaught in fishing gear in European waters and hundreds of thousands die globally. We can expect many more to survive, but suffer from such interactions. As marine policy focuses on “populati...

Emergent evidence of aspects of sociality, such as social structure and social learning, across many vertebrate taxa, warrant more detailed consideration of their influence on welfare outcomes for wildlife. Sociality can be dynamic across organismal development, it can: provide protection through safety in numbers; may influence breeding outcomes v...

Understanding the rich social lives of animals benefits international conservation efforts

In animal welfare science, it is recognised that mental experiences are the result of cumulative physical states and/or conditions which impact upon how an animal experiences its own life. Therefore, a physical state or external condition must impact upon the overall subjective mental state of the animal to have induced a welfare impact. Animal wel...

Chimpanzees were amongst the first animals recognised to have culture, and our understanding of the breadth of their cultural repertoire has grown significantly since the 1960s. Throughout their range, chimpanzee populations have come under increasing pressure, with their endangered status necessitating immediate and long-term conservation interven...

The world’s cetaceans (like most of biodiversity) are in crisis, and the need for well-informed conservation action has never been greater. Scientific advancements over the last few decades have provided much insight on the reproductive anatomy, physiology, and behavior of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Our goal in this chapter is to link scienti...

The prevalence of small cetacean (including dolphins, porpoises and small odontocete whales) bycatch in fisheries worldwide remains an ongoing conservation and welfare challenge. Various mitigation methods have been implemented in attempts to reduce bycatch. Two such methods involve gear modification: placement of Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) w...

Marine mammalsMarine mammals exhibit a wide range of variation in both individualIndividual and group behavior. Here, we explore how individuals respond to risk and uncertainty and how their social interactionsInteraction and the social systems that they construct can support resilienceResilience, but may also generate vulnerabilityVulnerability. W...

A key goal of conservation is to protect biodiversity by supporting the long-term persistence of viable, natural populations of wild species. Conservation practice has long been guided by genetic, ecological and demographic indicators of risk. Emerging evidence of animal culture across diverse taxa and its role as a driver of evolutionary diversifi...

The dolphin drive hunts that occur annually in Taiji, Japan have received global condemnation on both welfare and sustainability grounds. The considerable ethical and political controversy surrounding these and other small cetacean hunts serves as just one example of a contemporary issue challenging experts in the field of marine mammal science. Th...

Drive hunts are a method to herd, capture and kill small cetaceans (whales and dolphins) in coastal waters of some countries including Japan and the Faroe Islands. In Japan, these methods are often associated with the acquisition of live dolphins for international marine parks and aquaria. During the hunts, dolphins are herded by a flotilla of fish...

Social learning of adaptive behaviour is widespread in animal populations, but the spread of arbitrary behaviours is less common. In this paper, we describe the rise and fall of a behaviour called tail walking, where a dolphin forces the majority of its body vertically out of the water and maintains the position by vigourously pumping its tail, in...

In this chapter, we discuss in detail an example of a small toothed whale hunt, with the aim of illustrating the methods used and the welfare questions that can arise in these cetacean hunts. Annually in Japanese waters, small cetaceans are killed in drive hunts with quotas set by the government of Japan. The Taiji Fishing Cooperative in Japan has...

Brakes, P. (2014) Welcome to the club, New Scientist, 15th December 2014 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429992.700-to-save-animals-we-must-work-with-their-culture.html

Annually in Japanese waters, small cetaceans are killed in "drive hunts" with quotas set by the government of Japan. The Taiji Fishing Cooperative in Japan has published the details of a new killing method that involves cutting (transecting) the spinal cord and purports to reduce time to death. The method involves the repeated insertion of a metal...

It is estimated that each year within Japanese waters up to 22,000 small whales, dolphins and porpoises (known collectively as 'small cetaceans') are killed in hunts that involve a range of techniques. The Taiji Fishing Cooperative, Japan has published the details of a new killing method which involves cutting (transecting) the spinal cord. Analysi...

Subsistence whale hunting dates back to 400AD (Perrin et al 2009). Large-scale industrialised whaling to provide whale oil commenced in the late nineteenth century. Hunts escalated in the early 20th century and reports to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) show that over two million great whales were killed in hunts in the Southern Ocean be...

SECTIONS: Perceptions and timelines Whales in an increasingly noisy ocean Whales in a tainted ocean Whales in a warming ocean Whales in an increasingly acidic ocean Whales in a busy ocean Whales in a netted ocean Whales in the 21st century and beyond

It is estimated that each year within Japanese waters up to 22,000

Historically, Contracting Governments to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) have reported composite1 data on whale killing to the Commission on an annual basis2. Summary statistics and measures calculated from composite data include: sample mean and sample median Time To Death (TTD); Instantaneous Death Rate (IDR); and, in some cases, maxim...

This review examines the welfare implications of the methods currently used to hunt cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) for commercial, special permit and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW) purposes. The welfare implications are assessed and the question raised as to whether whaling could be conducted in a reliably humane manner. The repor...

Conclusion There are considerable differences between whale species (and to some degree between individual whales) in terms of mass, length and tissue (bone, muscle and blubber) characteristics. These differences can be expected to influence the efficiency of particular weapons. Considering their size, the adverse weather conditions which may pre...