Scientists investigate a humpback whale by boat and drone in the surface waters near the West Antarctic Peninsula. (IMAGE)
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To crack the conundrum of just how much food 30- to 100-foot whales eat, scientists used data from 321 tagged whales spanning seven species living in the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans collected between 2010 and 2019. Each of these tags, suction-cupped to a whale’s back, is like a miniature smartphone—complete with a camera, microphone, GPS and an accelerometer that tracks movement. The tags track the whales’ movements in three-dimensional space, allowing scientists to look for telltale patterns to figure out how often the animals were engaged in feeding behaviors. By braiding this line of evidence with other data the research team collected, the scientists could generate the most accurate estimates to date of how much these gargantuan mammals actually eat each day and, by extension, each year. New research published today in the journal Nature finds that gigantic baleen whales—such as blue, fin and humpback whales—eat an average of three times more food each year than scientists have previously estimated. By underestimating how much these whales eat, scientists may also have been previously underestimating the importance of these undersea giants to ocean health and productivity.
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Duke University Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing under NOAA permit 14809-03 and ACA permits 2015-011 and 2020-016
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