Supplementary material from "Deployment of biologging tags on free swimming large whales using uncrewed aerial systems" ...
Suction-cup-attached biologging tags have led to major advances in our understanding of large whale behaviour. Getting close enough to a whale at sea to safely attach a tag is a major limiting factor when deploying these systems. Here we present an uncrewed aerial system (UAS) based tagging techniqu...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
The Royal Society
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6566719 https://rs.figshare.com/collections/Supplementary_material_from_Deployment_of_biologging_tags_on_free_swimming_large_whales_using_uncrewed_aerial_systems_/6566719 |
| Summary: | Suction-cup-attached biologging tags have led to major advances in our understanding of large whale behaviour. Getting close enough to a whale at sea to safely attach a tag is a major limiting factor when deploying these systems. Here we present an uncrewed aerial system (UAS) based tagging technique for free-swimming large whales and provide data on efficacy from field testing on blue ( Balaenoptera musculus ) and fin ( Balaenoptera physalus ) whales. Rapid transit speed and the bird's-eye view of the animal during UAS tagging contributed to the technique's success. During 8 days of field testing, we had 29 occasions when a focal animal was identified for attempted tagging and tags were successfully attached 21 times. The technique was efficient, with mean flight time of 2 min 45 s from launch to deployment and a mean distance of 490 m from the launch vessel to tagged animal, reducing potential adverse effects resulting from close approaches for tagging. These data indicate that UAS are capable of attaching ... |
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