Here’s the 411 on Minke Whales

Photo credit: Ari Friedlaender, Associate Professor, Fisheries & Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center

For the first time, scientists have used tags to track Antarctic Minke whales. Why is this important? This happens to be the first non-lethal method developed.

Tracking these whales is important because they have been victims of deadly sampling methods in the name of science.

They discovered that Minke whales are the smallest of whales that feed themselves by taking gulps of water, also known as lunge feeding. The results of the study are a great contribution to scientific knowledge of the feeding and diving habits of small whales. This data is significant because there is little data on smaller krill-feeding whales like Minke whales.

The whales were tracked for 2,831 feedings during 649 dives. Trackings reveal that the Minke’s size is actually an advantage to moving near ice to find krill. Marine biologists also found that Minke whales are different from larger whales because they take many small gulps to feed.

Another discovery was learning that Minke whales take more lunges each dive than most whales to consume more krill. Not only that, but Minke whales’ small bodies also require less energy per gulp.

More incredible is some of the diving data collected: Minke whales can dive as deep as 32 feet for 7 minutes! All of these discoveries are great strides in learning about them.

Marine biologists are very excited to have been able to record this data because it is very difficult to study Minke whales through observation.

Understanding Minke whale behavior is important to protecting them to keep our oceans healthy. Let’s hope marine biologists can further study minke whales and other marine life, to make more discoveries!

Source:
http://www.kval.com/news/local/OSU-researchers-first-to-track-Antarctic-minke-whales-271732681.html