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SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE 15.TIF
University Of Auckland researchers attached satellite tags to six non-breeding whales in Port Ross. At $6000 apiece, the tags don’t come cheap. But what they reveal is astonishing. Within days, the tags are already feeding information back to us—one of the whales has headed off in the direction of Campbell Island, while others turn south-west, towards Antarctica.
Back home, molecular ecologist Emma Carroll will be able to follow their journeys for the next six months. She’ll also age the whales from her biopsy samples. It’s a newly developed technique, so for the first time we may get an accurate fix on their lifespan and understand their elusive summer feeding grounds.
Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 166 November December 2020.
Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-whales-are-back/
Photograph Richard Robinson © 2020.
Rights managed image. No Reproduction without prior written permission.
ALL IMAGES TAKEN UNDER PERMIT FROM THE NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION.
Back home, molecular ecologist Emma Carroll will be able to follow their journeys for the next six months. She’ll also age the whales from her biopsy samples. It’s a newly developed technique, so for the first time we may get an accurate fix on their lifespan and understand their elusive summer feeding grounds.
Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 166 November December 2020.
Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-whales-are-back/
Photograph Richard Robinson © 2020.
Rights managed image. No Reproduction without prior written permission.
ALL IMAGES TAKEN UNDER PERMIT FROM THE NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION.
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