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NEWPORT, Oregon – Drones give Oregon State University scientists a fresh perspective as they study the behavior of gray whales.
"In the beginning, we started using drones to observe the physical conditions of whales," said Leigh Torres of OSU's Marine Mammal Institute. "But we soon discovered that drones could also provide us with new information about how whales behave without disturbing them."
This behavior includes some things that scientists have described as "crazy", like swimming upside down, making dolls under water and even playing tag.
OSU researchers studied gray whales from authorized boats and drones at 53 different sites over a six-month period. Torres said the drones improved their ability to study whales because of the angle of view and the ability to watch whales for longer periods of time.
Look: OSU's five most important gray behaviors
"We may only see 10% of a whale's life on the surface," Torres said. "With the drone, we can observe much longer periods and detect new behaviors, such as what we call" heads of heads, "where the whale pushes the head and mouth in reefs, crevices and substrates. to feed.
The researchers also observed that the whales were swimming upside down for three minutes at a time. According to Torres, they hypothesized that it would help them focus better with their eyes.
The video on the drone also suggests that gray whales are more social on their feeding grounds than scientists thought, according to the researchers.
The results of the whale study were reported this week in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
© 2018 KGW
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