68 episodes

Mark Leiren-Young, author of Orcas Everywhere and director of The Hundred-Year-Old Whale, meets the humans who are fighting to save our oceans, orcas and environment. Find out how you can make waves.



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Skaana with Mark Leiren-Young | Oceans, Eco-Ethics & The Environment Mark Leiren-Young | Oceans, orcas, eco-ethics and the environment.

    • Science
    • 5.0 • 65 Ratings

Mark Leiren-Young, author of Orcas Everywhere and director of The Hundred-Year-Old Whale, meets the humans who are fighting to save our oceans, orcas and environment. Find out how you can make waves.



Join the Pod…… https://www.patreon.com/mobydoll

Skaana home….. https://www.skaana.org

Facebook……….. https://www.facebook.com/skaanapod/

Twitter…………... @leirenyoung

    Author, broadcaster and activist Melody Horrill (The Dolphin Who Saved Me) talks about saving the port river dolphins and how a dolphin named Jock saved her

    Author, broadcaster and activist Melody Horrill (The Dolphin Who Saved Me) talks about saving the port river dolphins and how a dolphin named Jock saved her

    Author, broadcaster and activist Melody Horrill (The Dolphin Who Saved Me) talks about saving the Port River dolphins and how a dolphin named Jock saved her with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young (author of Sharks Forever & Orcas Everywhere). "Dolphins do have a special place in our hearts... They help us connect to the water and the natural world."

    Shownotes:



    5:10 Meet the Port River dolphins. And find out why they're in trouble.



    10:20 "I made it my single-minded mission to let everyone know in South Australia that these dolphins existed. They're here."



    11:10 “They do have a special place in our hearts... They help us connect I think to the water and the natural world."



    11:50 On the Port River becoming a dolphin sanctuary and how her documentary helped change minds and laws.



    15:23 Is the sanctuary really dolphin-friendly?



    15:46 The first time she saw a dolphin.



    16:51 Meeting Jock.



    19:35 "Little did I know at that time that Jock would end up being my best friend. And lead me out of a place that I didn't think was possible. Immediately I just felt this connection to this solitary dolphin. He was by himself... he just seemed adrift and alone. So from my perspective it was this instant recognition of another being that I felt compassion for and a connection with."



    22:20 "He accepted me in a way that I'd never been accepted in my life before."



    24:20 "He taught me a lot about forgiveness."



    25:07 "He forced me to live in the moment... we're not feeding him, we're not enticing him. There's no other reason for him to hang out with me other than he just wants to. How mind-blowing is that?... It made me realize love was possible."



    26:00 Helping Jock meet and interact with other dolphins. "He taught me about courage."



    29:59 "We really tried to keep his friendliness quiet." Jock following her boat.



    32:34 Connecting with Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute.

    Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.





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    Melody Horrill with the perfect beach book!





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    • 39 min
    David Shiffman: On Jaws, Sharknados, Megalodon-Mania and Shark Week Vs. Sharks

    David Shiffman: On Jaws, Sharknados, Megalodon-Mania and Shark Week Vs. Sharks

    Author and marine conservation biologist David Shiffman (Why Sharks Matter) talks about Sharkweek, Sharknados, megalodon myths, Jaws and junk science with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young (author of Sharks Forever & Big Sharks, Small World). "More people are bitten by other people on the New York city subway system every year than are bitten by sharks in the whole world... but whenever any shark gives someone side eye anywhere in the world, it's headline news everywhere in the world."

    Shownotes:



    4:10 "Jaws has had a really transformative impact. For sharks mostly bad." How Jaws changed everything for sharks and meeting Richard Dreyfuss. "The movie is just so good."



    5:05 "It's really changed the world. Before Jaws came out most people really didn't think about sharks at all."



    5:56 “Spielberg has a lot to answer for here."



    6:23 The Jaws Effect. "It refers to how fictional portrayals of a real world issue can affect how people really think about that issue. In reality."



    7:36 Watching The Shark is Broken - the Jaws play - on Broadway!



    10:14 On the impact of Sharknado! "I love those goofy, bad shark movies... there are two kinds of shark movies - there are bad shark movies and there's Jaws." And how Sharknado funded his PhD work.



    13:18 "It's just frigging weird how much this goofy Saturday night basic cable movie has escaped its cage and entered the cultural zeitgeist."



    13:44 "Here's a crazy story for you..." How Sharknado may have launched Donald Trump's political career.



    16:04 On being Sharkweek's number one critic "I'm very critical of the dumpster fire of nonsense and lies that they show every year."



    17:33 "I could rant about how bad Sharkweek is... forever." And how Sharkweek does nothing to help sharks. "Sharkweek and I are not besties."



    17:48 There are more dudes named Mike on Sharkweek than there are women... even though in real life 60% of shark experts are women.



    19:37 Great white sharks are mentioned in 40% of newspaper stories about endangered sharks - even though they're not one of the most endangered species... All anyone wants to talk or write about... great white sharks.



    21:00 Getting people to care about the bigger picture..."One thing that does change people's minds is "yes, and...""



    25:44 Talking 24 and sharks. "All of the species of sharks in the world combined have killed a lot fewer people than Jack Bauer has killed on-screen. Not even counting his off-screen exploits."



    26:34 "More people are bitten by other people on the New York city subway system every year than are bitten by sharks in the whole world... but whenever any shark gives someone side eye anywhere in the world, it's headline news everywhere in the world."



    27:46 "Seeing a shark swimming close to the beach is not news. That's where they're supposed to be."



    28:00 A toy story - myth busting a fake goblin shark.



    31:18 The megalodon conspiracy! "They were very cool - but they've been extinct for millions of years."



    33:38 The importance of public science engagement.



    34:54 A new treaty that may help save sharks - and other species.

    Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.





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    • 38 min
    Gloria Pancrazi: On Endangered Orcas, Endangered Humans and Making Movies that Change the World

    Gloria Pancrazi: On Endangered Orcas, Endangered Humans and Making Movies that Change the World

    Filmmaker Gloria Pancrazi (Coextinction) talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about red herrings, fishy fish farms, whale watching, whale saving and Coextinction. “Orcas are telling us something. They’re showing us something. You can learn a lot about the things we’ve got to do in the world right now by looking at these orcas."

    Shownotes:



    3:35 Meet Gloria Pancrazi and how the story of love for orcas turned into a mission to save the southern resident orcas.



    6:12 "A lot of politicians like to blame whale watchers because then they can accept a pipeline that’s going to increase tanker traffic by seven- fold... you can go on and on about the impact of the Trans Mountain pipeline and how it's going to impact southern resident orcas."



    8:38 “One of the biggest points of the movie is that everything is connected... it's hard to pick one big issue."



    11:50 “It always fascinated us how the orcas are telling us something. They’s showing us something. You can learn a lot about the things we’ve got to do in the world right now by looking at these orcas."



    13:18 "They are each other’s home and we’re destroying that home."



    13:38 The first time she saw a whale:



    15:35 Working for Cetus's Straitwatch program in Canada and SoundWatch in the US and the challenges of keeping orcas safe from small boats.



    22:04 Visiting OrcaLab. "It's magical up there."



    25:28 The impacts of colonization and colonial trauma.



    27:50 Where and how to see Coextinction.

    Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.





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    Books for sale and Classes from Team Skaana

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    * Audio books by Mark Leiren-Young (Killer Whale Who Changed the World, Orcas Everywhere & Never Shoot a Stampede Queen) on Audible.com https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=Mark+Leiren-Young

    • 31 min
    Danna Staaf: On alien octopuses, squid squads and why baby animals rule

    Danna Staaf: On alien octopuses, squid squads and why baby animals rule

    Cephalopod expert Danna Staaf (author of The Lady and the Octopus and Monarchs of the Sea) talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about the alien world of octopuses, the secret lives of squid and her two new books Nursery Earth: The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals and the Extraordinary Ways They Shape Our World and The Lives of Octopuses and Their Relatives: A Natural History of Cephalopods. “They are definitely our fellow earthlings and some of the oddest ones we share the planet with.”

    Shownotes:



    3:20 Meet Danna Staaf. "They are extremely intelligent animals with extremely short life-spans."



    6:12 Meet Danna Staaf’s first pet octopus - Serendipity.



    12:32 “There’s this tension between the alien and the familiar in them.” And octopus decor…



    13:50 “They are definitely our fellow earthlings and some of the oddest ones we share the planet with.”



    15:49 How and why cephalopods lost their shells.



    22:15 The difference between octopus and squid. “Squid basically evolved for swimming and for speed.”



    25:10 "Cephalopods are amazing.”



    27:13 “These are real animals that inspired a lot of myths and legends.”



    28:35 “Squid are like the protein bars of the oceans.”



    31:30 Squid squads!



    32:36 Baby animals doot doot doot doot - Danna Staff’s new baby book!



    34:31 "At any given moment, most of the animals on earth are babies... I find all of them to be adorable in their own ways."



    41:20 Her favourite odd octopus facts… donut brains!



    42:17 "I love asking what if questions about nature and about science."



    44:20 How humans are threatening octopuses and the health of the oceans.

    Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.





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    Danna Staff Author Photo - credit Josh Weaver





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    From: Nursery Earth: The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals and the Extraordinary Way...

    • 48 min
    Jason Colby: On the Capture of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and How Penn Cove Almost Ended the Southern Resident Orcas

    Jason Colby: On the Capture of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and How Penn Cove Almost Ended the Southern Resident Orcas

    Jason Colby (author of Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator) talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about the capture of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and how Penn Cove almost ended the southern resident orcas and was the beginning of the end of the capture era. "It's worth remembering that the argument at the time, if there could have been a debate at the time, it was really between whale catching and whale shooting, not whale catching and whale watching."

    Shownotes:



    0:00 The voice of Toki.



    4:08 Jason Colby on writing the book - or at least a very long chapter of his book - on Penn Cove.



    6:05 "They eventually capture virtually all of these orcas behind nets. They estimate at the time around 90 individuals... The estimates vary but almost certainly the entire population of the Southern residents."



    7:43 "It's worth remembering that the argument at the time, if there could have been a debate at the time, it was really between whale catching and whale shooting, not whale catching and whale watching."



    8:50 "Once they rounded them up, 90 to 100 animals, if Ted Griffin and his company would have wanted to and would have had the market to sell all 90 of them they could have done that. If they had wanted to shoot them all in the nets, they could have done that. There may have been a firearms violation, but there would be no sort of conservation law violation."



    10:30 "This must have been horrifically traumatic for these pods to be torn apart."



    11:20 How activists trying to free the orcas accidentally kill four baby orcas.



    12:20 Hiding the bodies... "Whether it was illegal or not, it looks like a murder scene."



    14:20 Is Toki really L Pod or did she learn how to speak L Pod from Hugo in Miami?



    20:04 "It was a generational loss."



    21:20 "If Griffin had done what the fisherman who was helping him demanded - which is to sell all of them all - you could have seen the entire population of Southern residents extinguished before we had even identified them scientifically as a population."



    23:00 How to help orcas today and the problems humans are creating for orcas today.



    26:04 Toki talks.

    Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.





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    Jason Colby from Mark Leiren-Young's award-winning documentary The Hundred Year-Old Whale





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    • 26 min
    Howard Garrett (Orca Network) remembering the southern resident orca Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and his nearly thirty year fight to bring Toki home to the Salish Sea.

    Howard Garrett (Orca Network) remembering the southern resident orca Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and his nearly thirty year fight to bring Toki home to the Salish Sea.

    Howard Garrett (Orca Network) remembering the southern resident orca Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and his nearly thirty year fight to bring Toki home to the Salish Sea. "Toki's legacy is building, building, building by the day... She wasn't just a circus animal. She was a member of the southern residents."

    Shownotes:



    0:00 The voice of Toki.

    4:57 How Howard started fighting to bring Toki home



    7:50 "I really feel like she would have thrived and been thrilled and so relieved to be in her familiar waters."



    14:16 A superpod wake for Toki?



    15:55 The Lummi Nation's fight for Toki.



    20:05  The origins of Toki's names and becoming Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut.



    21:44 "Her tank violated the very dismal standard of the animal welfare act..."



    30:15 Getting the news that she was gone.



    34:00 Toki's legacy.



    43:00 Toki speaks.

    Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.





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    Howard Garrett at a marine conference in Vancouver in 2017





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    Howard Garrett meeting Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young in happier times at a conference in 2017 in Vancouver. A story by Mark about Toki in The Times Colonist: Comment: Remembering Tokitae: The last southern resident orca in captivity







    Books for sale and Classes from Team Skaana

    **Amazon links are affiliate links and support our podcast, thanks for clicking!**



    *  Audio books by Mark Leiren-Young (Killer Whale Who Changed the World, Orcas Everywhere & Never Shoot a Stampede Queen) on Audible.com https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=Mark+Leiren-Young

    * The Killer Whale Who Changed the World… http://amzn.to/2pRNU1q

    * Orcas Everywhere; Orcas of the Salish Sea & Big Whales,

    • 42 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
65 Ratings

65 Ratings

Cracrofts Friend ,

Very Informative

Great host, awesome guests, fantastic information! I wish I had the money to move out west and have the opportunity to work with someone helping these majestic creatures. I’ve wanted to kayak with them for years!
It breaks my heart that governments didn’t stop allowing these beautiful creatures to be taken from their families.
I grew up in Chippawa (Niagara Falls) and have never liked any of their attractions from the sea to be captive. They should never have been taken from the ocean for any reason.

3rddegreebern ,

Great info, I’m hooked.

Love the short snappy bites and facts. Fun listen!

padfootthedog ,

outstanding!

this podcast is so informative and thought-provoking. mark is a gem!

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