Voyage in
search of the world's largest creature
January 2013. A
team of international whale researchers have sailed from Hobart in search of
the biggest creature on Earth, the Antarctic blue whale. The scientists from
Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Chile and New Zealand, will use
newly-developed passive acoustic sonobuoy methods to track and locate the
elusive animals across hundreds of kilometres in the Southern Ocean.
Antarctic Blue
Whale Project
Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke said this is the inaugural voyage of the Antarctic Blue Whale Project which aims to estimate the abundance, distribution and behaviour of the species.
Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke said this is the inaugural voyage of the Antarctic Blue Whale Project which aims to estimate the abundance, distribution and behaviour of the species.
Mr Burke said
"The Antarctic blue whale can grow to over 30 metres in length and weigh
up to 180 tonnes, its tongue alone is heavier than an elephant and its heart is
as big as a small car. Even the largest dinosaur was smaller than the blue
whale. Despite their colossal size we know very little about the animals,
including where they breed and feed, and how many remain in our oceans today
after industrial whaling slaughtered more than 340,000 of them in the early
1900s."
The researchers
will target areas thought to be frequented by the blue whales along the ice
edge west of the Ross Sea. If survey methods are successful in locating the
whales, photographs of the animals' flanks and biopsy samples will be taken to
build individual sighting histories that will assist in estimating population
size.
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