By measuring the body length, width and height of free-living southern right whales photographed by drones, researchers were able to develop a model that accurately calculated the body volume and mass of the whales.

Because of their large size and aquatic life, previously the only way to obtain data on the body mass of whales was to weigh dead or stranded individuals.

The innovative method can be used to learn more about the physiology and ecology of whales.
“Knowing the body mass of free-living whales opens up new avenues of research. We will now be able to look at the growth of known aged individuals to calculate their body mass increase over time and the energy requirements for growth. We will also be able to look at the daily energy requirements of whales and calculate how much prey they need to consume,” said Assistant Professor Fredrik Christiansen from Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, who is the lead author of the study.

Video: Southern right whale mother-calf pair resting in the calm clear waters of Península Valdés, Argentina. By: Fredrik Christiansen. 

Full-colour 3D model of the right whale

The model also allowed the group of researchers to collaborate with the Digital Life Project at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the USA to first recreate a 3D mesh of the whale, and then to work with CG artist Robert Gutierrez to recreate the full-colour 3D model of the right whale. These models can be used for both scientific purposes, such as studying movement, as well as for educational uses.

By adjusting the parameters of the model, the approach could be used to estimate the size of other marine mammals where alternative, more invasive, methods aren’t feasible or desirable.

Baleen whales, which include species like the blue whale, are the largest animals on this planet, with body mass being central to their success as an animal group. However, data on their size has historically been limited to dead specimens, with most samples coming from whaling operations, accidental fisheries bycatch or beach strandings.

Collecting data on dead whales has limitations such as being unable to collect longitudinal data over a whale’s life span and inaccuracies from physical distortion of carcasses caused by bloating and deflation.

Measuring body mass is essential

“The difficulty in measuring body mass reliably in free-living whales has prevented the inclusion of body mass in many studies in ecology, physiology and bioenergetics. This novel approach will now make it possible to finally include this central variable into future studies of free-living whales,” explained Fredrik Christiansen.

To calculate the body volume and mass of southern right whales, Christiansen and collaborators first took aerial photos of 86 individuals off the coast of Península Valdés, Argentina. The clear waters and the large number of whales that gather there every winter for breeding made it an ideal place to collect high quality images of both the dorsal and lateral sides of the whales. From these they were able to obtain length, width and height measurements.

These measurements could then be used to accurately model the body shape and volume of the whales. “We used this model to estimate the body volume of whales caught in scientific whaling operations, for which body girth and mass was known. From these estimates of body volume and mass, we could then calculate the density of the whales, which we in turn could use to estimate the mass of free-living whales photographed by our drones,” said Fredrik Christiansen.

Although the model yielded body mass estimates to a high-level of accuracy, there were some limitations due to the relative proportion of different tissues in baleen whales. As Fredrik  Christiansen explained: “We had to assume a constant body density of the whales, which is not realistic as the proportion of different body tissues (fat, muscle etc.) changes seasonally as the whales deposit or lose body condition.”

The study was funded by a research grant from the National Geographic Society. 

Read the full scientific article

Fredrik Christiansen, Mariano Sironi, Michael J. Moore, Matías Di Martino, Marcos Ricciardi, Hunter A. Warick, Duncan J. Irschick, Robert Gutierrez, Marcela M. Uhart:
‘Estimating body mass of free‐living whales using aerial photogrammetry and 3D volumetrics’ in: Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 01 October 2019.

Contact

Fredrik Christiansen, AIAS Fellow, Assistant Professor at the Dept. of Zoophysiology, Aarhus University
f.christiansen@aias.au.dk

Phone: +4587153691

Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, AIAS
Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 6B 
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark