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Microbes in the breath of North Atlantic right whales contain valuable information about the animal's health, a new study has found.
Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts used drones to capture spray from the blowholes of endangered species. They then analyzed the bacteria in the spray and linked that information with other data to get a clearer picture of the health of individual whales.
“It's really exciting because we may have just found another way to do health screenings for these endangered whales,” says Carolyn Miller, a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and lead author of the study. study published this month in the Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology..
Experts say there are less than 400 of them North Atlantic right whales remain stranded, with ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear adding to the threats facing the population.
WHOI researchers have collected 103 samples from 85 North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, since they began using drone technology in 2016.
It involves flying a drone with a petri dish over the whale until it releases air through its blowhole. Once the spray hits the petri dish, the drone flies back to its pilot, who is aboard a nearby boat, the dish is wiped down, and the sample is stored for future research.
While using drones to collect samples is nothing new, researchers have shown for the first time that the types of bacteria found in each whale's breath are linked to their health.
They used previously collected high-resolution images of whales, as well as an existing data set reflecting factors such as robustness, leanness, length, skin condition and the presence of whale lice.
When they matched microbial samples with this information, they found that thin whales tended to have bacteria that can cause infections in mammals, while fat whales had bacteria associated with environments rich in fatty oils.
“Essentially, we're still uncovering and understanding what it means, but we think it might be another way to add the health indicator of these animals“,” Miller said. “It's sort of a biomarker of what's going on with these animals and how fat or thin they are.”
Collecting drones is safer and easier
Miller says collecting whale breath samples using a drone is a little more difficult, but it's safer and less invasive than other methods.
Previously, researchers had to sit on a boat and use a long pole with an attached petri dish to collect samples.
“To get to the animal's nostrils or blowholes, you actually have to get pretty close to it, and that's dangerous. It's very, very difficult for the animal to try to get that close.”
The collection of drones makes the whales seem completely unfazed, Miller said.
“They don't seem to notice the drone at all. It's quiet and stable. It's very small and it's a really simple method.”
Useful for monitoring
Sean Brillant, a senior biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Federation who led the research on North Atlantic right whales, says the study is “an amazing and truly new approach.”
“What a great opportunity this tool provides to advance knowledge about this animal,” he said.
“We have a very hard time getting close to these animals, and if they don’t want to be approached, they will outrun most of the boats we have and just go underwater and disappear.”
Brillant said many whales that survive entanglements or ship collisions continue to suffer from these health events, so studying the spray from their blowholes could help track them over time.
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