Story last updated at 10/25/2009 - 1:31 am
JUNEAU - Humpback whale scientist Dr. Fred Sharpe will present "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Herring," at 7 p.m. Thursday at the University of Alaska Southeast Egan Lecture Hall, as a benefit for the Whale Project, which will place a Skip Wallen life-scale breeching humpback whale and fountain on Juneau's waterfront.
Sharpe is executive director and principal investigator for the Alaska Whale Foundation, which has produced the DVD "Cry of the Bubble Warriers." He is stopping in Juneau on his way to the Sitka Whalefest, to be held Nov. 6 to 8 in Sitka.
Sharpe holds a doctorate from Simon Fraser University in 2001 about "Social Foraging of the Humpback Whale in Southeast Alaska." His studies has received international recognition in the Fairfield Award for Innovative Marine Mammal Research, and the Society for Marine Mammology Award for Excellence in Scientific Communication. He has published books about humpback whales as well as songbirds, and led a study focused on the marbled meurrelets of Southeast Alaska.
Some of Sharpe's favorite topics include the evolution of cooperative behavior and team hunting in animal societies. As part of a collaboration with investigators at SETI and UC Davis, Sharpe is attempting to decipher humpback sounds and better characterize general rules of animal communication.
Material will also be available about the NOAA Humpback Whale Identification Web site. The University of Alaska Southeast mascot is the humpback whale. Suggested donation is $10. For more information, call 321-7558 or visit jahc.org/events.php.
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