Whale Quest by Karen Romano Young

Author:Karen Romano Young
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Animal, Animal Behavior, Animal Behaviors, Animals, Blue Whale, Climate Change, Endangered, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Humpback Whale, Humpback Whale Behaviors, Karen Romano Young, Killer Whale, megafauna, Nonfiction, Ocean, Ocean Animal, Ocean Animals, Ocean Science, Orca, Pollution, right whale, Science, Nature, and How It Works, Scientists, SeaWorld, Sperm Whale, Stem, The Whale Watchers, The Whale Watchers: Working Together to Save Endangered Species, Whale, Whale Baleen, Whale Calf, Whale Hunting, Whale Migration, Whale Oil, Whale Song, Whale Watchers, Whale Watching, Whale's Communication, Whale's Eating Habits, Whales, Whales and People, Whales in Captivity, Whales's Blubber, Wildlife, Working Together to Save Endangered Species, Young Adult Nonfiction, Young Adults
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2017-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Piggyback Photography

In 1986, about forty years before the Hercules encounter, University of Maryland scientist Greg Marshall invented Crittercam. This small package of instruments includes a video camera that attaches to an animal for a limited time. To deploy a Crittercam on a whale, a technician uses a pole to attach a suction cup onto the whale’s back. The suction cup is attached to a small video camera the size and shape of a cucumber.

The 2004 test ride for Crittercam was on short-finned pilot whales off the coast of Kona, Hawaii. Researchers wanted to know what kept this population of pilot whales hugging the sharp cliff of a seamount (underwater volcano) along the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. Crittercam videos and depth measurements revealed that pilot whales there feed in different ways than those in European waters. Scientists wonder if it is because the Hawaiian waters are clearer. And the video footage showed what, when, and how these whales hunted.

In another Crittercam project, in 2008, humpback whales gave a demonstration for the camera of how they create the bubble net they use to trap herring. AWF biologist Fred Sharpe had been studying the same pod of humpbacks in Chatham Strait in southern Alaska for fifteen years. He has studied the bubble net feeding for even longer. The 2008 video gave him a new perspective—a whale’s-eye view.

The video helped Sharpe see how the whales use teamwork. “You’ve got some [whales] that blow the bubbles, others that go down and herd the prey toward the surface, and other individuals that scream these incredibly beautiful and haunting songs to clump the prey up and force them up toward the surface into the confines of the bubble net,” he said. Sharpe was able to observe how the whales organize. “They all get together in the group and they come charging up through this tunnel of bubbles almost like missiles coming up through a [military] silo. They engulf the prey in their huge mouths at the surface.”

GoPro cameras have also been a game changer for whale watchers and scientists. Before scientists had underwater technology, researchers could only work with what they could see from above the surface of the ocean. With a GoPro on a stick, scientists can dip cameras under the surface to get a whale’s-eye view.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.