Bernd Würsig, his students, and postdocs have studied marine mammals and sea birds on all continents, with present work mainly on dusky dolphins in diverse habitats of New Zealand, and beleaguered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins of Hong Kong. His specialties are behavior and social strategies, especially as related to human disturbance. He has published and co-published about 180 peer review papers, over 50 popular articles, and 7 books. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Marine Biology of Texas A&M University at Galveston.

J. G. M. ‘Hans’ Thewissen studies the evolution, anatomy and embryology of marine mammals, and has traveled the world to study fossil and living whales. Working in Pakistan and India, he discovered some of the earliest, amphibious, cetaceans and sirenians. His work with the sense organs of modern whales explores the impact of global change on marine mammal populations. A native of the Netherlands, he holds degrees in biology and geology from the University of Utrecht and the University of Michigan and teaches anatomy and embryology to medical students at Northeast Ohio Medical University. He also has appointments at Kent State University and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Kit M. Kovacs is the Biodiversity Research Program Leader for the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø Norway and a Professor of Biology at University Studies on Svalbard (UNIS). She has worked with marine mammals in Polar Regions for the past 30 years, focusing primarily on studies in the fields of behavioral ecology and population biology. The impact of climate change on ice-associated species has been a topic of principal concern in recent years in her research projects. She is author/co-author of more than 200 primary publications and the author/editor of ten books and numerous popular articles.