- Researchers are getting creative as they try to treat endangered Southern Resident orcas.
- Scientists have created new drones to get closer to the mammals and collect samples.
As population numbers of Southern Resident orca whales dwindle dangerously low, scientists have been forced to get creative with ways to treat and track the endangered creatures.
Researchers tasked with monitoring the whales have gone to extreme lengths — including developing new drone technology, weaponizing antibiotic dart guns, and even employing a canine helper — to individually attend to any sick porpoises in a pod, according to a New York Times report.
The Southern Residents are the smallest of four groups of fish-eating killer whales found in the Pacific Ocean. The mammals were listed as endangered in 2005 amid worsening pollution, depleted salmon supply, and increased boat danger. The animals have faced ongoing population troubles in the years since.
Only about 75 of the whales remain even as conservationists fight to keep them alive.
One Southern Resident swimming in the Salish Sea in September was the recipient of researchers' hard-fought innovation when a group of scientists at sea stumbled upon a putrid smell coming from the mammal's blowholes, the Times reported.
Bad breath on a whale can be a sign of more significant health issues, scientific experts told the newspaper.
While the stinky smell was cause for concern, the situation also offered researchers the serendipitous opportunity to try out a new "breath-collection drone," the outlet reported, describing the device as a "flying petri dish" that can be maneuvered into an Orca's plume.
The device is still in development, but the whale's foul breath allowed researchers a chance to test the drone in the wild.
Experienced drone pilots have to launch the aircraft from small boats zooming through the water and navigate the drone to the exact right place above the whale to gather respiratory drops, which are full of telling information about the animal's health, according to The Times.
"They've said a few times now that this is, technically speaking, the most complex mission they have ever flown," Dr. Hendrik Nollens, the vice president of wildlife health for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, who was on the expedition, told the outlet of the drone pilots.
The putrid-smelling whale was identified as Tsuchi, a 28-year-old known female in the pod, according to the newspaper, and the drone eventually helped researchers diagnose her with a condition akin to a bloody nose.
But drone technology is just one approach scientists have taken to treat Southern Residents in recent years. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration has worked with nonprofits to develop new techniques, including using aerial photography to keep abreast of the mammals' measurements; surveying whale fecal samples stolen from the water; and using a dart gun to administer antibiotics to a sick pod member, The Times reported.
One nonprofit called Wild Orca even employs the use of a service dog who is trained in sniffing out whale feces to locate the animals.
Researchers told The Times that medical interventions alone won't save the Southern Residents. But the top-tier veterinary treatment on the water may buy the endangered animals some more time.