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CORVALLIS, Oregon – Scientists are discovering that gray whales are doing a lot of crazy things they do not know about, such as running podiums, swimming upside down and playing their own "tag" version between feeding episodes.
They even seem to have debauchery behavior from time to time.
These newly documented behaviors result from the use of small "unmanned aerial systems," or drones, that allow researchers to observe whales from above with minimal disruption. The research results, led by scientists at Oregon State University, are published this week in Frontiers in Marine Science.
"In the beginning, we started using drones to observe the physical conditions of whales," said Leigh Torres, principal investigator at the Marine Mammal Institute of the Hatfield Marine Science Institute and lead author of the study. "But we quickly discovered that drones could also provide us with new information about how whales behave without disturbing them."
The researchers compiled and tabulated all the different behaviors observed from the drone video. A video highlighting the five "coolest behaviors of gray whales" can also be found at: https://bit.ly/2wNPXFt.
Torres stated that drones improved the ability of researchers to observe whale behavior significantly in relation to boat observations, due to the vertical angle across the water column and their ability to track them for a long time. long periods, especially in clear water. In their study, they studied the behavior of gray whales 53 times over a period of six months at a time from a ship and a drone, and drones provided three times more "observation capacity" ".
"Although we have a research permit to approach whales with a drone, we found that we could record beautiful images at a greater distance to know the context of the whale – like its habitat and other whales in the region "Torres said.
Now, about these conclusions.
"We may only see 10% of a whale's life on the surface," Torres said. "With the drone, we can observe for longer periods of time and detect new behaviors, such as what we call" call-heads ", where the whale pushes the head and mouth in the reefs, crevices and burrows. substrates to feed.
"Surprisingly, we also recorded whales swimming on their sides and" slamming jaws "during prey, or even swimming upside down. We do not know why a whale would swim upside down for three minutes, but one hypothesis is that it helps them focus better with their eyes. Whales also plow the substrate by collecting bites of amphipods and other zooplankton prey. We can see them tense the mud off their baleen on the surface. "
The drone images also suggest to researchers that gray whales are more social on their feeding grounds than they previously thought.
"The paradigm is that baleen whales, including grays, are very compartmentalized and keep their feeding and breeding areas separate," Torres said. "We expected whales to be generally solitary during feeding months, but with drones, we could observe brief but interesting social activities.
"As whales moved around their feeding grounds, they coordinated behaviors, including feeding efforts, and intentionally touched each other and encountered other whales. They even seemed to practice copulation.
The Torres-led research team is in its third year studying whales using drones. At each research expedition, they learn more and more about these difficult to study marine mammals.
"We focused mainly on gray and blue whales, but you could apply the technology to almost all marine megafauna, including sharks, turtles, dolphins and other whales," Torres said. "Most large marine animals move quickly and are unpredictable. But with a drone, you can see in the water column if it is clear enough and really understand how they live their lives.
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