Behavior, Cognition, and Welfare of Marine Mammals
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2026 | Viewed by 17
Special Issue Editor
Interests: ethology; cognition; phenomenology; animal welfare; human-animal relations; marine mammals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce a new Special Issue dedicated to advancing our understanding of the complex lives of marine mammals. As sentience and cognitive complexity become central themes in modern zoology and conservation, there is a pressing need to bridge the gap between what these animals "know" and how they "fare" in a rapidly changing world.
1. Focus, Scope, and Purpose
The focus of this Special Issue is the intersection of psychological processes and biological welfare in marine mammals (cetaceans, pinnipedians, sirenians, and polar bears).
The scope is broad and multidisciplinary, encompassing the following topics:
- Behavior: Social dynamics, communication, foraging strategies, and reproductive patterns;
- Cognition: Problem-solving, memory, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence;
- Welfare: Physiological and behavioral indicators of health, the impact of anthropogenic stressors (noise, pollution, climate change), and enrichment strategies for animals in human care.
The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide a holistic platform for research that demonstrates how cognitive depth influences an individual’s ability to cope with environmental shifts, thereby informing more robust welfare standards and conservation policies.
2. Supplementing Existing Literature
While the current literature often treats marine mammal behavior and conservation as separate silos, this Special Issue will represent a useful supplement to existing work by emphasizing the functional link between cognitive capacity and welfare outcomes.
By moving beyond purely descriptive ethology, we aim to provide the following:
- Empirical evidence that connects cognition to improved welfare in managed environments and conservation actions;
- New frameworks for assessing the welfare of wild populations through the lens of behavior, cognition, and emotion;
- Integrated perspectives that apply recent advances in neuroscience and sensory biology to real-world conservation challenges.
We welcome original research papers, comprehensive reviews, and short communications. All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer review process to ensure that they maintain the highest scientific standards.
Dr. Fabienne Delfour
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- marine mammals
- behavior
- cognition
- welfare
- conservation
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