Scientists Are Using Drones to Study whale Breaths
A humpback whale exhales out of its blowhole. Scientists are now using drones to study these exhalations and identify when whales are sick. Image: Dr. Mridula Srinivasan/NOAA
Scientists in the Arctic are catching the exhaled breaths of whales to better understand their health. And they’re doing it with drones.
“drones have really revolutionized our ability to get a biological sample from a wild whale,” says Amy Apprill, a marine microbial ecologist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Typically, scientists collect samples from wild whales by getting close to them in a boat and then shooting a dart gun to snag a small skin sample. Or else, apprill, who wasn’t involved in the current study looking at whale microbial infections, says most samples come from whales that are already sick or dead. That doesn’t give a good picture of overall whale health.
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