Mid-July to Mid-September 2019.

Join Pierre Gallego in Mozambique where he will be collecting data on humpback whales for his PhD in August. Every summer hundreds of humpback whales aggregate in the warm coastal waters of Mozambique to mate and give birth to their young, offering a great opportunity to study them! Pierre’s work focuses on the quantification of heavy metals and other toxins which whales accumulate in their fat layer, the blubber, over their lifetime. Females generally have lower levels of contaminants in their blubber because they dissolved in the fatty milk and are passed on to their calves. By taking a very small blubber sample from the animals in different breeding grounds, Pierre will be able to establish differences in contamination in relation to the breeding population.

In addition to humpback whales, the coastal waters in Mozambique are home to whale sharks, manta rays, dolphins and many more species. No dive and no boat trip will be alike! During your time with Odyssea you can expect to learn more about the biology and ecology of these animals while being introduced into the main research techniques used to study them: photo-identification, acoustic recordings, biopsy sampling, boat surveys. Through the interaction with our collaborating organisations you’ll get a very realistic insight into what conservation biology is really like and you will be surprised to discover how much work is involved to keep these projects afloat: outreach projects, educational programmes, skill training, and data processing.

A documentary was filmed during last year’s field season in Mozambique, which can be seen here (language is in Luxembourgish). For more information and questions please do not hesitate to contact us under info@odyssea.lu.  Positions are available from mid-July to mid-September and can be between 2 to 8 weeks long.