Ron Kastelein received his PhD from the Agricultural University of Wageningen, the Netherlands in 1998 on ‘Food consumption and growth of marine mammals’. In 2002 he founded SEAMARCO B.V. (Sea Mammal Research Company Inc.) which specialises in applied acoustic research with marine fauna. He is (co)author of many publications, in diverse disciplines such as anatomy, physiology, behaviour, acoustics, biomechanics, sensory systems, animal medicine, animal welfare and psychophysics.