Whale scientist to speak at UAS

JUNEAU - "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Herring" will be the topic of humpback whale scientist Dr. Fred Sharpe at the UAS Egan Lecture Hall Thursday Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.

The talk is a benefit for the "Whale Project," which will place a Skip Wallen life-size breaching humpback whale sculpture 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 Warriors." He is stopping in Juneau on his way to the Sitka Whalefest, in Sitka.

Sharpe's studies 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 U.C. Davis, Sharpe is attempting to decipher humpback sounds and better characterize general rules of animal communication.

Suggested donation is $10. For more information call 321-7558 or go online to jahc.org/events.php.