A humpback whale swimming in a circular pattern while blowing bubbles to create a “net” to encircle its prey.
It’s a regular occurrence in the cold blue-green waters of Southeast Alaska, and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers and their collaborators have captured it on video from an amazing whale’s-point-of-view along with aerial video.
From CNET by Amanda Kooser
Get both a drone's-eye and an underwater view of how humpback whales use bubble-net fishing to round up krill.
Humpback whales have a clever way of catching
prey.
They don't have thumbs to sit around weaving fishing nets with,
so they use what they've got: bubbles from their blowholes.
A team led by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa captured spectacular footage
of humpback whales using a technique called bubble-net fishing in the
waters near Alaska.
The whales were packing on the pounds before heading
to Hawaii to breed.
Bubble-net fishing involves a group of whales near the ocean surface
rounding up fish or krill inside a circle of bubbles exhaled from their
blowholes.
As the whales rise toward the surface, they corral the fish
in the bubble net.
It's a cooperative behavior that results in a good
meal for the participants.
The team used drones
to capture the view from above.
Cameras and sensors attached to the
whales by suction cups gathered video and data from the whale's point of
view.
Put the two together and you get an incredibly detailed look at
this fascinating feeding behavior.
Lars Bejder, director of the university's Marine Mammal Research Program, called the footage "groundbreaking."
"We're
observing how these animals are manipulating their prey and preparing
the prey for capture.
It is allowing us to gain new insights that we
really haven't been able to do before," he said in a release on Sunday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has noted a drop in the number of humpback whale sightings
around Hawaii in recent years.
The Marine Mammal Research Program is
looking into what might be causing a possible decline in the population.
Scientists are concerned about the impact of climate change and a loss
of food resources.
We can't just call on the crew of the USS Enterprise like in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
to save the whales.
We have to start with gathering solid data on their
feeding habits and changes in habitat.
This video footage is both
beautiful and useful as scientists work to understand what's happening
with these magnificent animals.
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