Mark Leiren-Young

Saanich

Host, Skaana and Writer at Freelance

Author Sharks Forever, Big Sharks, Small World & Orcas Everywhere @orcabook Host @SkaanaPod podcast https://t.co/IzAh8EhEBr Adjunct prof @UvicWriting

Articles

A Deep Dive Into the Mysterious Diverse Lives of Octopuses

2 months ago | psychologytoday.com | Mark Leiren-Young

Octopuses are amazing beings who are receiving increasing attention in scientific and popular press because they are so different from us and many other nonhuman animals (animals). I find it somewhat difficult to keep up with what we're learning about these big-brained, deeply sentient, highly emotional, eight-legged, blue-blooded animals and was thrilled to read octopus expert Mark Leiren Young's new highly acclaimed, beautifully illustrated book Octopus Ocean: Geniuses of the Deep.
Octopus Ocean: Geniuses of the Deep

Feb 1, 2025 | slj.com | Mark Leiren-Young |Michele A. Shaw |Irene Latham |Matt Forrest

. (Orca Wild). Feb. 2025. 104p. Tr $24.95. ISBN 9781459838956. COPY ISBN Gr 4-7–Researchers are still discovering new things about octopuses (not octopi) almost every day, even new octopuses! There are at least 300 different kinds, ranging from species tinier than an eyeball to the giant pacific octopus, explored by award-winning author, filmmaker, and podcaster Leiren-Young in this installment of the “Orca Wild” series.
Lost in Canada’s Health-Care Wonderland

Jun 16, 2024 | thetyee.ca | Mark Leiren-Young

[Editor’s note: Last week, Victoria-based writer, podcaster, filmmaker and playwright Mark Leiren-Young published on his Substack this tale of his ‘recent medical misadventures’ in the form of a fan letter to comedian Lewis Black. It’s funny and harrowing and made headlines.
‎Skaana with Mark Leiren-Young

May 21, 2024 | podcasts.apple.com | Mark Leiren-Young

NOAA scientists Kim Parsons & Tom Jefferson on killer whale science, killer whales versus orcas, orcas versus dolphins, how science becomes official, the challenges of translating science to civilians and so much more in the first of a special two-part episode on the two soon to be official species of orcas who call the Salish Sea home. Shownotes:3:45 Meet marine mammal biologist, Tom Jefferson. 4:21 Meet molecular geneticist, Kim Parsons. 5:10 Orcas or killer whales?
‎Skaana with Mark Leiren-Young

Jan 11, 2024 | podcasts.apple.com | Mark Leiren-Young

Author and marine conservation biologist David Shiffman (Why Sharks Matter) talks about Sharkweek, Sharknados, megalodon myths, Jaws and junk science with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young (author of Sharks Forever & Big Sharks, Small World). "More people are bitten by other people on the New York city subway system every year than are bitten by sharks in the whole world...
‎Skaana with Mark Leiren-Young | Oceans, Eco-Ethics & The Environment: Jason Colby: On the Capture of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and How Penn Cove Almost Ended the Southern Resident Orcas on Apple Podcasts

Sep 12, 2023 | tinyurl.com | Mark Leiren-Young

Jason Colby (author of Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator) talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about the capture of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and how Penn Cove almost ended the southern resident orcas and was the beginning of the end of the capture era.
Otter Doesn’t Know

Sep 12, 2023 | orcabook.com | Andrea Fritz |Carla Joseph |Tonya Simpson |Mark Leiren-Young

Indigenous artist and storyteller Andrea Fritz tells a tale of a salmon and a sea otter who learn it's ok to say "I don't know" and to ask for help. Thuqi’ the sockeye salmon knows it’s time to spawn, but she is lost in the Salish Sea and doesn't know the way to Sta'lo’, the river. When she asks Tumus the sea otter for help, he doesn’t exactly know either, and he dismisses her questions.
The Original Moon Knight TV Series - That Never Saw Daylight

Sep 8, 2023 | leirenyoung.substack.com | Mark Leiren-Young

Hanging out with University of Victoria students/Avengers cosplayers at the 2022 Capital City Comic Con in Victoria, BC Canada, eh. As we’ve learned from Dr. Strange, all dreams are realities somewhere in the multiverse — including a Moon Knight TV series that was developed with Marvel by a Canadian production company almost twenty years ago, where the Fist of Khonshu was fighting to take down the evil owner of an oil company. This isn’t a story from Earth-616.
Comment: Remembering Tokitae: The last southern resident orca in captivity

Aug 22, 2023 | timescolonist.com | Mark Leiren-Young

A commentary by the author of The Killer Whale Who Changed the World and Orcas Everywhere. As the sun set on Aug. 17, all three communities of the southern resident orcas gathered in the waters off the San Juan Islands. Their 95-year-old matriarch, Ocean Sun, swam alone nearby. These superpod gatherings are incredibly rare and tend to coincide with births and deaths. More than 5,000 kilometres away, the orca some believe to be Ocean Sun’s daughter was dying in her tank at the Miami Seaquarium.
Aloha, Lahaina & Helping the People of Maui

Aug 11, 2023 | leirenyoung.substack.com | Mark Leiren-Young

"It has been six weeks since I touched a pen. In explanation and excuse I offer the fact that I spent that time (with the exception of one week) on the island of Maui. I only got back yesterday. I never spent so pleasant a month before, or bade any place good-bye so regretfully." - Mark Twain, Letters from the Sandwich Islands Posted on Facebook Aug 7, 2023.