Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tiny Helicopters Collect Whale Snot from Blowholes

Yes, really. Via Yahoo! News:

"Tiny, remote-controlled helicopters hovering above the blowholes of whales have collected snot samples that could help scientists learn which bacteria lurk in seemingly healthy cetaceans in the wild.

'Up until now, all the information we have from whales comes from captive animals or animals that are dead or stranded, and that's hardly representative of the normal population,' said Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse of the Zoological Society of London."
Imagine this from the whale's point of view - must be like a mosquito up your nose.

(Photo at Livescience.com.)

1 comment:

Marge said...

"Up until now, all the information we have from whales comes from captive animals or animals that are dead or stranded, and that's hardly representative of the normal population," said Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse of the Zoological Society of London.

What a relief, this study did not come out of the US for a change.

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