Wildlife news from around the world

Robotic aircraft to track marine mammals Apr 17 2008

Robotic aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may soon take to the Australian skies in the name of marine mammal research, if a project to test the technology succeeds.

Science Alert reports that researchers working through the University of Queensland and the Australian Centre for Applied Marine Mammal Science will conduct UAV surveys of dugongs (Dugong dugon) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) to test whether the robotic aircraft can improve the safety, cost-effectiveness and accuracy of marine mammal population checks.

In the medium to long term, smaller UAVs could reduce the cost of flights to just a few dollars an hour, while better imaging software could obviate the need for any human analysis.

Dugongs and humpback whales are being targeted by UAVs as they live in different environments, are sighted using different cues from the air, and have very different movement habits and socialisation patterns.

“Dugongs can congregate in large herds of up to 300 individuals, and need to be circled to be counted,” Dr Michael Noad of the University of Queensland says. These ocean dwellers are highly migratory.

Noad adds that migrating humpback whales usually travel singly or in pairs. Often observers can only see their blows before they submerge again. “They’re spread out on a long migratory path, so you have to cover quite a bit of ocean to find them.”

The habitat of humpback whales comprises polar to tropical waters, including the waters of the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the waters surrounding Antarctica. The whales are divided into several populations which are mostly isolated.

Image of humpback whale courtesy Wikipedia