News

Researchers from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Research Program and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have, for the first time, used an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to capture fascinating footage of killer whale populations.

The team began monitoring the whales in British Columbia’s Johnstone Straight in August using a custom-made drone called “Mobly”—a remote-controlled miniature helicopter with on-board video camera. While manned choppers have previously been used to monitor killer whale populations, allowing researchers to distinguish malnourished or pregnant individuals, full-size helicopters have two major disadvantages: the noise they make bothers the animals, and they are extremely expensive to operate.

Mobly is not only cheaper to run, but also much quieter, and it’s possible to get in close to take high-quality images that allow researchers to identify individuals, monitor the animals’ health, and observe their natural habits.

The scientists completed the study at the end of August, having taken images of more than 80 whales. Lance Barrett-Lennard, one of the project leaders, writes on the project’s blog: “The good news: the whales were generally robust…. The sad news: two whales that were clearly very thin … were missing by the end of our very short study.”

Find out more at Vancouver Aquarium’s AquaBlog.