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“they're called right whales because they were just right for whalers. They're slow, they stay close to shore, and they have a lot of blubber, so they float after they're killed and they yield a lot of oil.”
“Drones carrying petri dishes hovered above the whale's blowholes. When a whale exhaled, the drone snagged a sample.”
“healthier whales had higher levels of helpful bacteria in their breath. Less healthy whales had higher levels of nasty bacteria.”
Transcript
0:00Exploring Science in the Sea Sniffing a whale's breath doesn't sound all that appealing, but a recent study suggested that a good sniff could help scientists analyze a whale's health. The study looked at North Atlantic right whales, among the most endangered of all whales. In fact, they're called right whales because they were just right for whalers. They're slow, they stay close to shore, and they have a lot of blubber,
0:31so they float after they're killed and they yield a lot of oil. By the early 1900s, they'd been hunted to near extinction. The population might have dropped to just 100 or so. Today, the population has rebounded to about 400. Scientists are trying to find ways to protect those whales and help the species grow. One way to do that is to keep a close eye on the health of the whales, and that's what the study was all about. Scientists watched whales in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts
1:02during the spring foraging seasons from 2016 to 2024. Drones carrying petri dishes hovered above the whale's blowholes. When a whale exhaled, the drone snagged a sample. Scientists then analyzed the microbes in the whale's breath. They compared those samples to other measures of the whale's health. They found that healthier whales had higher levels of helpful bacteria in their breath. Less healthy whales had higher levels of nasty bacteria.
1:33The study suggests that it might be possible to measure the health of a right whale just by sniffing its breath.
1:40Science in the Sea is a production of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas and is available as a weekly podcast at scienceandthesea.org. I'm Holly Brawley. Science in the Sea is a production of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of the Sea of