Whale Sanctuary Project
Member of the SETI Institute Science Advisory Board
Lori Marino is a neuroscientist and expert in animal behavior, intelligence, and self-awareness who was on the faculty of Emory University. She is the founder and President of the Whale Sanctuary Project and Executive Director of The Kimmela Center for Scholarship-based Animal Advocacy. Lori is currently an adjunct professor in Animal Studies at New York University.
Lori’s scientific work focuses on the evolution of the brain and intelligence in dolphins and whales (as well as primates and farmed animals), and on the effects of captivity on wildlife. She has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters, and magazine articles.
Lori has been involved in the SETI and Bioastronomy community for over 35 years, having done research, written and presented on the evolution of intelligence from an astrobiological perspective. From 2000-2004 she was a member of the Strategic Planning Committee for the SETI Institute Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe.
Lori also works at the intersection of science and animal law, having been an expert witness and advisor for several legal efforts for animal rights and protection, including the Nonhuman Rights Project and the Canadian Senate Bill S203, a bill that passed in 2019 banning the keeping and breeding of dolphins and whales for entertainment in Canada. She is co-director of the Science and Animal Law Project at George Washington University and also teaches at the Vermont Graduate and Law School.
Lori has appeared in several films and television programs, including the 2013 documentary Blackfish, about orca captivity, Long Gone Wild, the 2019 documentary on marine mammal captivity, and the 2021 film Seaspiracy.