Maintaining a stable core body temperature is essential for endotherms. Cetaceans live in a highly thermally conductive medium, requiring special adaptations to reduce heat loss and maintain homeothermy. We employed a combination of aerial photogrammetry and existing data sources to estimate heat loss rates in five sympatric cetaceans of varying sizes, inhabiting the sub-arctic waters (∼3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs), or "drones," are increasingly used as a tool for cetacean research, but knowledge about how these tools contribute to underwater sound is lacking. In this study, underwater sound levels of three commonly used UAV models (Mavic Pro Platinum, Phantom 4 Pro v2.0, Inspire 1 Pro) were recorded.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantifying the energy expenditure of animals is critical to understanding the cost of anthropogenic disturbance relative to their overall energy requirements. We used novel drone focal follows (776 follows, 185 individuals) and aerial photogrammetry (5372 measurements, 791 individuals) to measure the respiration rate and body condition loss of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) on a breeding ground in Australia. Respiration rates were converted to oxygen consumption rate and field metabolic rate (FMR) using published bioenergetic models.
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