Curator of Vert. Zoo & Palaeo at @tasmuseum | Adjunct Researcher @MonashBiol & @EvansEvoMorph | Views my own | he/him | Ask me about #Seals #Whales & #Fossils!
Joined October 2012
- Tweets 7,895
- Following 1,994
- Followers 1,450
- Likes 15,746
585 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
23 Jun 2022
#NaturalHistory collections are a vital resource that allow the public to connect with our rarest and most #EndangeredSpecies.
By digitising collections, we can create educational resources that give our objects a new life outside of the museum.
22 Jun 2022
There's just over a week left to make a tax-deductible gift to our Annual Appeal for 2022! Help us ignite a lifetime of curiosity and enrichment. Donate here: tmag.tas.gov.au/annualappeal
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
12 Jan 2024
🚨 Some quoll-ity research for your Friday! 🚨
Devil declines caused by facial tumours are having a knock-on effect on spotted-tailed quolls, with quolls moving around & dispersing much less from areas with lower devil densities
Nice summary here -
nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
11 Jan 2024
Devastating to consider the possibility of avian influenza spreading throughout sub-Antarctic elephant & Antarctic fur seal populations in addition to seabirds. Thanks to all the expert teams characterising the disease & trying to mitigate the spread.
11 Jan 2024
APHA scientists testing for #BirdFlu on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia have detected the virus in fur and elephant seals for the first time in the region.
Results will be shared with partners to help tackle the disease globally. Read more: gov.uk/government/news/bird-…
ALT Dr Marco Falchieri from APHA's Influenza and Avian Virology team sampling a seal on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
14 Dec 2023
What an interesting study, revealing yet another environmental cost of the colonial project:
DNA research shows that a rare UK bat declined 330-550 yrs ago, coinciding with when old-growth trees it nested in were being felled for empire-builiding ships:
theguardian.com/environment/…
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
30 Nov 2023
The latest Australian Threatened Bird Index (TBX) was released today at the Australasian Ornithological Conference and reveals that threatened birds in Australia declined by an average of 60% between 1985 and 2020.
Read more here: brnw.ch/21wET6s
#AOC2023
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
11 Nov 2023
Just heard that Ewan Fordyce passed, what a huge loss for our field…. Ewan kept high expectations, kept us all on our toes, and was a gentleman about it all. I only wish I’d had more time with him.
(Wish I had a better picture of him..)
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
28 Oct 2023
Devastating news
UPDATE: Lab results confirm massive recent mortality event in elephant seal colonies in Argentina is from avian influenza. @wcsargentina is working to prevent the spread of the disease, minimize the impact on animals, and avoid potential spillover infection of people. #OneHealth
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
16 Oct 2023
“The (Bird Is.Antarctic fur seal) pop’n has recovered very impressively throughout the 20th century when seal hunting was banned. But 21st century changes to the abundance of krill in the Southern Ocean are now threatening these iconic animals all over again.” @JaumeForcada
16 Oct 2023
Fur seal numbers have been declining at Bird Island since 2009.
🦐 80% of their diet is Antarctic krill
🌡️ Krill are sensitive to temperature change
📉 Climate trends correlate with the changing population
Here's the full story 🦭
ow.ly/HbqW50PWZ3H
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
16 Oct 2023
A new continental bathymetry dataset for Australia, replacing the existing 250 m layer from way back in 2009! 🎉🤯
Lots of amazing improvements - including improved coastal bathymetry from our #DigitalEarthAU's Intertidal Elevation models!
Download here:
ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/sr…
16 Oct 2023
Check out our latest seabed data! The new release shows Australia’s marine environment in 250m resolution as a continuous whole, showing a continental-scale picture of our marine environment available for everyone. Find out more 👉 bit.ly/3RYdIVK
@jcu @Sydney_Uni
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15 Oct 2023
2023 Spring school holidays #BirdTally:
- Crested tern
- Pacific gull
- Kelp gull
- Silver gull
- Sooty oystercatcher
- Pied oystercatcher
- Tasmanian thornbill
- Yellow wattlebird
- Yellow throated honeyeater
- New Holland honeyeater
- Pallid Cuckoo (call only)
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15 Oct 2023
- Fan-tailed cuckoo (call only)
- Black-faced cuckooshrike
- Brush Bronzewing
- Superb fairy wren
- Welcome swallows
- Forest Raven
- Grey fantail
- Grey shrikethrush
- Striated pardalote
- Magpie
- Masked lapwing
- Female Robin (scarlet?)
- Wedge-tailed eagle
- Black swans
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15 Oct 2023
- White-faced heron
- Black-faced cormorant
- Great cormorant
- Galah
- Long-billed Corella
- Yellow-tailed black cockatoo
- Black currawong
- Turbo chook
- Green rosella
- Noisy miner
- Ducks* (*assorted)
- Kookaburra
- Starling
- Blackbird
- Goldfinch
- Sparrow
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15 Oct 2023
2023 Spring school holiday #MammalTally:
- Aussie fur seals
- Bottlenose dolphins
- Platypus
- Echidna
- Forester Roo
- Bennett’s wallaby
- Pademelon
- Long-nosed potoroo
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
12 Oct 2023
Killer whales that once cooperatively hunted #whales with whalers may be extinct!
Our latest research used aDNA methods and Indigenous knowledge to provide new insights into the origin and fate of the legendary #killerwhales of Eden 🇦🇺.
See here shorturl.at/asFS1 (1/6)
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
15 Oct 2023
A pleasure to collaborate with @bellaa_reeves and the whole team on this special mahi - a great example of how powerful #IndigenousKnowledge and #aDNA can be - @NatSciMassey, @MasseyUni - graphic but the amazing @emmaluck22
12 Oct 2023
Killer whales that once cooperatively hunted #whales with whalers may be extinct!
Our latest research used aDNA methods and Indigenous knowledge to provide new insights into the origin and fate of the legendary #killerwhales of Eden 🇦🇺.
See here shorturl.at/asFS1 (1/6)
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
13 Oct 2023
Our paper on the fossil record and geology of the Triassic Fremouw Formation of Antarctica came out today. w/J McIntosh, B Hammer, N. Smith, P. Makovicky, N Tabor @_megwhit_ @paleo_hank @DrFossilhunter @Koskinonodon
Free reprints here: authors.elsevier.com/a/1hvwJ…
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
13 Oct 2023
Remarkable engineering to deploy suction tags onto blue and fin whales from hexacopters, 21 of 29 whales successfully tagged, with average flight time of just 2 min 45 sec, and much less disruption and threat of danger to the whale and the people.
royalsocietypublishing.org/d…
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
9 Oct 2023
New paper on morphological disparity and enamel ultrastructure in odontocetes, from @MaryViglino work in NZ a few years back
#womeninSTEM #LatinasinSTEM #oralbiology #dentistry
nature.com/articles/s41598-0…
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
20 Sep 2023
Like #roadkill, #vesselstrike is very much a global problem for large creatures like #whales.
#Science provides an opportunity to understand #whale movements so that we can better protect them in Australian waters. Ongoing research is critical. abc.net.au/news/2023-09-19/w…
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
19 Sep 2023
Fantastic presentation on #thylacine #skullmorphology by @WeisbeckerLab 💀🐺
@DSRovinsky @AxelHNewton @AJ_Pask
#skull #morphology #marsupial #carnivore @AusMammals #ams2023
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Dr David Hocking retweeted
16 Sep 2023
Thrilled and incredibly grateful to have received a 2024 #ChurchillFellowship! I'll visit Wildlife BioBanks in Europe & US using cryopreservation in conservation. We must conserve native habitat, but we need solid back-up plans too. @museumsvictoria
churchilltrust.com.au/fellow…
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