SEATTLE TIMES : DRONES RECORD HUNDREDS OF WHALES by Brendan Rascius of McClatchy News
EXCERPT: ... scientists documented dramatic changes in the size of the mothers and calves and in humpback birthrates.Changes in size
Between 2018 and 2022, “a total of 2,410 measurements were taken from 1,659 individuals, with 405 repeat measurements from 137 lactating females used to track changes in maternal body volume over migration,” Martin van Aswegen, one of the study authors, said in a news release from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
In six months, they decreased in body volume by 17% on average. Specifically, the mothers off Hawaii — where the whales breed — lost about 214 pounds of blubber each day.
Comparatively, nonpregnant and pregnant females off Alaska — where the whales feed — gained size much faster than new mothers, putting on weight between two and six times the rate of lactating females.
Calves, in contrast, rapidly put on weight. They increased their body volume by about 395%, and their length increased by nearly 60%.
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