Image

Eavesdropping on Whales

November 16, 2011

Researchers at WHOI are getting a better understanding of marine mammals by attaching noninvasive digital tags to the animals. Here a D-tag3 was successfully attached to a long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) during the recent MED 11 project in the Alboran Sea off the coast of Spain. The D-tag is attached to the whale with 4 silicone suction cups and is programmed to release from the animal automatically once it finishes gathering data. The instruments record the movements of whales and the sounds they make as well as the noise they are subjected to in the ocean. (Research was conducted under a permit #14241 issued by NMFS under the authority of the MMPA and the ESA. Funding was provided by Office of Naval Research. This is for scientific presentation. Photo by Daniel Ottman.)