This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
The question is: what do you use to study the health of whales in the wild?
The answer is: not what you'd think.
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Unlike smaller sea mammals like seals or sea lions, it is very hard to obtain blood samples from whales without first killing them.
Meet Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse, from the Zoological Society of London. She studies whale health, but has had to rely on dead, stranded or captive animals for blood samples, which are hardly representative of whales in the wild.
So what's the next best thing to whale blood? Well, SNOT, of course.
When a whale rises to the surface, it releases a mix of mucous, water, and gases through its blowhole. She tied herself to her boat, and leaned over the whales' blowholes with a petri dish, and tried to collect the snot.
Did it work? Yes. But it was too dangerous. The solution? Remote-controlled toy helicopter.
She attaches some petri dishes to the bottom of the helicopter and flies it through the whale's thirty-foot-high sneeze. The samples are taken back to the lab and analyzed for bacteria and viruses.
Figure 2: One of her 3.5 foot long helicopters collecting data from the sneeze of a blue whale in the Gulf of California. Gesundheit!
But here's what I want to know: does she offer them a thirty-foot-wide whale-sized tissue?
Acevedo-Whitehouse, K., Rocha-Gosselin, A., & Gendron, D. (2009). A novel non-invasive tool for disease surveillance of free-ranging whales and its relevance to conservation programs Animal Conservation DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00326.x