Flying with whales: Drones are remaking marine mammal research
SMRTR summary
After the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, whale researcher Iain Kerr struggled to collect tissue samples from sperm whales using traditional boat-based methods, as the animals would dive when approached. Getting doused in whale snot sparked his idea to develop the SnotBot, a drone equipped with petri dishes that flies over surfacing whales to collect their exhaled mucus, which contains valuable DNA and health information. This innovation has revolutionized marine mammal research, with drones now used to study various whale species and dolphins worldwide.
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