Denise L. Herzing

Denise L. Herzing

Fellow: Awarded 2008
Field of Study: Science Writing

Competition: US & Canada

Florida Atlantic University

Denise Herzing, Research Director of the Wild Dolphin Project, has completed 27 years of her long-term study of the Atlantic spotted dolphins inhabiting Bahamian waters, and continued this research as a Guggenheim Fellow.  She received her B.S. in marine zoology from Oregon State University in 1979; her M.A. in behavioral biology from San Francisco State University in 1988; and her Ph.D. in behavioral biology/environmental studies from Union Graduate School, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1993.  She is an affiliate Research Faculty in Biological Science and in the Department of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.  She is also a Fellow of the Explorers Club.

Ms. Herzing has authored and co-authored many papers in the fields of whale biology, animal communications, and human consciousness.  Coverage of her work with the spotted dolphins has appeared in National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Ocean Realm, and Sonar magazines.  Her work has been featured on Nature, Discovery Channel, PBS, ABC network television, BBC in England, and NHK in Japan.

Her fields of interest are animal consciousness, behavior and communication of cetaceans, and environmental ethics.  Ms. Herzing has given presentations and lectures to the following research, education, and conservation organizations: Society for Marine Mammalogy, European Cetacean Society, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and American Cetacean Society.

Read an article about Dr. Herzing’s work in the New York Times

View the Explorers Club website for information about Denise Herzing’s lecture on October 31, 2011.

Follow this link for more information about Denise Herzing’s new book, Dolphin Diaries: My 25 Years with Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas

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