Rowan Jordaan, past killer whaler/sealer and current MIMMP PhD student visits the CEBC in France

Rowan Jordaan (MIMMP PhD student) has just started his 2 month visit to the Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) (i.e. Chizé Centre for Biological Sciences) laboratory in Villiers en Bois, France. The CEBC is part of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) which is largest governmental research organisation in France and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. The CEBC is globally recognized as a nexus for Southern Ocean top predator ecological research.

During his visit, Rowan will be working with his co-supervisor, MIMMP collaborator and past student, Dr. Ryan Reisinger who is completing a post-doc at the CEBC. With the help of Ryan and his colleagues, Rowan aims to further his research on the demography and sociality of Marion Island’s killer whales. This research will investigate the relationship between demography and social structure and the potential drivers behind these changes.

Rowan’s visit will strengthen an existing Southern Ocean killer whale collaboration between South African, French and Australian researchers (including a Southern Oceans Research Partnership project led by the MIMMPS Principle Investigator, Prof. Nico de Bruyn). We look forward to seeing results from this exciting project!