Drone to Sample Humpback Whale Blow Hole Mucus

Drone to Sample Humpback Whale Blow Hole Mucus

Remote-controlled drone to capture whale DNA.

Drone to Sample Humpback Whale Blow Hole Mucus to measure their health


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Drones have been sent to hover metres above migrating humpback whales off south-east Queensland to help with a study into the giant mammals’ health.

Griffith University researcher Dr Jan-Olaf Meynecke used the remote-controlled aircraft to capture DNA from the blow holes of humpbacks.

He is trying to establish whether the increase in whale population is placing pressure on the species.

About 19,000 humpbacks leave Antarctica’s cold waters annually and migrate up Australia???s east coast.

But Dr Meynecke said research into the marine mammal had been limited.

In June, he launched a pilot study to examine humpback health.

Using a drone to hover above the whales, he collected mucus in a petri dish.

He said whales took a breath every three to four minutes, so timing was critical.

“We wait for their second breath and so they come up for a second time and that’s when I usually try to get the whale blow,” he said.

An estimated 40,000 humpbacks once migrated to Queensland’s warm waters but commercial hunting reduced the population to fewer than 500.

Whaling ended in the early 1960s and since then the population has steadily grown to almost 20,000.

Dr Meynecke said he suspected the increased numbers coupled with temperature changes and decreasing krill stocks were affecting the humpbacks’ immune system.

Drone to Sample Humpback Whale Blow Hole Mucus to measure their health


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