Marine biologist Petra Nevečeřalová, who hails from the north-Bohemian town of Ústí nad Labem, has been obsessed with whales since early childhood. Today, she is part of an international team of scientists who study evolutionary genetics of the Southern Right Whale and spends a significant part of her time off the South African coast. When I caught up with her in Prague to discuss her work, I started by asking her what sparked her interest in the giant ocean mammals:
“I have no idea, honestly. I think I was born with that. One of the first memories I have is when I was a little girl and my mom bought me a blanket with a picture of a colourful seal playing with a ball. And I was always wandering: what kind of an animal is that?
“And then later in my life, my mom would buy me books about animals, because I loved animals. And one of the books was about marine mammals and there were seals on one page. I was really excited to see the seals, but then on the next page, there were dolphins, and on the next one, there were whales.
“So I quickly lost interest in seals and I fell in love with whales and dolphins. And then later, when I started to go to school, I always took notes from these books into a little notepad and I would carry that notepad everywhere, learning about whales and dolphins. So it was just in me.”
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Author: Ruth Fraňková