A whales’ blow-out story

by Juliana Andrea Berner 

Snot – not the most enticing or intriguing bodily function. However, a whole story unfolds when we examine whale snot. The combination of mucous, tissue particles, and water contain highly valuable information on the well-being of these fascinating creatures [1]. From the blow-out – and not as we know it from the hairdressers – it is possible to deduce the sex, pregnancy, maturity, stress levels [2] [3], and the combination of microbes in the lungs e.g., bacteria, viruses, and fungi [4]. This snot indicates the well-being of the individual whale at the specific point of collection. Methods to undertake similar analyses involved biopsies of the blubber. However, this only showed the earlier condition of the animal instead of its current condition. As these giants are elusive, sampling on a stranded whale was convenient, however the results would be compromised as this was not the animals normal state [3].

A new non-invasive method has emerged to collect these informative boogers. Specifically drones or similar unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), have been used to serve this purpose. For example, in Dr. Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse’s research, they used radio-controlled helicopters [5]. Catching these famous boogers, one or multiple sterile petri dishes were attached to top of the drones or UAV. To manoeuvre these devices, certain skills and techniques must be mastered, in order to get the best sample from a whale’s blow-out. If the flying device is flown directly over the blowhole, the device will be blown away. The trick is to let the whale blow-out first and quickly manoeuvre the flying device under the falling spray, thus yielding the best results [6]. After the successful collection of whale snot, the dishes are flown back to the boat and sealed, for further analysis [4] [7]. An Australian team used this non-invasive method to gather whale snot to investigate the microbial community from the airways of whales. They concluded that the whales were nonreactive to the drone while successful in collecting viable samples with very little contamination from the surroundings [8].

The opportunity to investigate live and hopefully healthy animals enables researchers to gather otherwise difficult information of these giants of the deep. Furthermore, the use of this non-invasive method removes the possibly traumatizing handling and stress of biopsies and eliminate damaging noise pollution that otherwise would have been created.

A research team from the University of New South Wales, examined respiratory vapour samples from a pod of humpback whales. They examined the pod at the beginning of their migration from Sydney to the return of their migration. The results show a correlation between long lengths of the whales’ fasting periods with more depleted microbial diversity and abundance in the airways [9].

This method would be ideal to further investigate the physical reaction in different scenarios. For example, the whales’ physical stress levels during an ongoing whale safari and the size of the boat used versus the normal state.

The non-profit organization Ocean Alliance has created a program to implement, develop and improve these drones. This method has not only caught the eye of biologists, but it also intrigued the famous actor Sir Patrick Stewart who has helped to gather funds for Ocean Alliance, to further their engineering project [10]. This drone is eloquently named a SnotBot®.

References

[1] Pirotta, Vanessa. “Scientists use drones to collect whale snot.” British Council, 07 June 2018, https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/scientists-use-drones-to-collect-whale-snot

[2] Burgess, Elizabeth A., Hunt, Kathleen E., Kraus, Scott D., Rolland, Rosalind M. “Get the most out of blow hormones: validation of sampling materials, field storage and extraction techniques for whale respiratory vapour samples.” (2016). Conservation Physiology, Volume 4, Issue 1, https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cow024

[3] Hunt, Kathleen E., Rolland, Rosalind M., Kraus, Scott D. “Detection of steroid and thyroid hormones via immunoassay of North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) respiratory vapor.” (2014). Marine Mammal Science, Volume 30, Issue 2, https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12073

[4] Amos, Jonathan. “How do you breathalyse a whale?” BBC News, 12 Nov. 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7723703.stm

[5] Acevedo-Whitehouse, Karina, Rocha-Gosselin, Agnes, Gendron, Diane. “A novel non‐invasive tool for disease surveillance of free‐ranging whales and its relevance to conservation programs.” (2009) Animal Conservation, Volume 13, Issue 2, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00326.x

[6] Shields, Jesslyn. “The 'SnotBot' Drone Is Making Scientific Research Easier on Whales.” HowStuffWorks, 17 Jan. 2020, https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/snotbot.htm 

[7] Brahic, Catherine. “Thar she blows: Snot offers clues to whale health.” NewScientist, 12 Nov. 2008, https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16017-thar-she-blows-snot-offers-clues-to-whale-health/?ignored=irrelevant

[8] Pirotta, Vanessa, Smith, Alastair, Ostrowski, Martin, Russell, Dylan, Jonsen, Ian D., Grech, Alana, Harcourt, Robert. “An Economical Custom-Built Drone for Assessing Whale Health.” (2017) Frontiers in Marine Science, Volume 4, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00425

[9] University of New South Wales. “Whale 'snot' reveals likely poor health during migration.” EurekAlert, 29 Jul. 2020, https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/uons-wr072920.php?fbclid=IwAR3HgU09oqmwOc2aqhru47Bi-AmKFDROF7p0Vd6VcqNWPkbz16Jz9nrWLuU

[10] Ocean Alliance. ”What is a SnotBot?” Ocean Alliance, N.D., https://shop.whale.org/pages/snotbot