ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Environment → Animals

Researcher captures stunning video of Antarctic minke whales

Minke whales are grossly understudied, but researchers hope to fix that.

Mihai AndreibyMihai Andrei
March 22, 2018
in Animals, News, Oceanography, Videos
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

Regina Eisert is a research scientist who focuses on marine mammals and their physiology. Despite working in the Antarctic quite a bit, she didn’t think minke whales are particularly interesting — until she caught them on camera. Now, she thinks they’re beautiful.

Above and below: although they’re understudied, they’re majestic beneath the waves as well as on the surface.

Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) don’t really get that much attention. They weren’t recognized as a distinct species until the 1990s and the whaling industry largely ignored them due to their small size and low oil yield. Of course, this worked out to their advantage, as they were among the few whale species who were able to maintain a large population up to the 21st century. But to this day, minke whales are grossly understudied.

Eisert herself wasn’t focused on them — she was in the Antarctic mostly to study orcas in the Ross Sea (a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica). Along with her colleagues, Eisert planned to capture underwater footage for about two weeks, but they only filmed for about 90 minutes before they ran into technical problems. However, within those 90 minutes, they captured some remarkable takes — not with orcas, as they had planned, but rather with minke whales.

A minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis), screenshot from the video. Image credits: Anthony Powell / Vimeo.

The conventional belief is that the minke whales dedicate most of their time to hunting krill, but as the team reports, there was no krill around. Instead, Eisert believes they were chasing small schools of fish. Due to the inaccessible habitat of the minke whales, studies have been few and far between, and as a result, we don’t even know exactly what they eat. Eisert and her colleagues hope to solve that question. They used a modified tranquilizer gun to gather a tiny amount of skin and blubber from whales and analyze it in the lab.

The biologists also found that when the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star had earlier cut a channel through the ice between two research stations, it also benefitted the whales: the path the icebreaker tore through now also as a highway for whales and other marine creatures.

RelatedPosts

Antarctic Ice Collapse Could Devastate Global Food Supply
In 2015, record temperatures in Antarctica were 17.5°C (63.5°F). Yes, you read that right
This volcano in Antarctica is spewing out $6,000 worth of gold dust per day — but good luck getting it
Ship of legendary explorer Shackleton found in Antarctica 107 years after it sank

After gaining a new appreciation for minke whales (and especially the individuality they exhibited), Eisert wants to learn more about them, despite the difficulty of studying them in such a remote area. Now, she will get the chance to do so, as part of a larger study on the ecosystem in the Ross Sea.

Tags: antarcticminke whale

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Related Posts

Geology

This volcano in Antarctica is spewing out $6,000 worth of gold dust per day — but good luck getting it

byMihai Andrei
1 year ago
Archaeology

Ship of legendary explorer Shackleton found in Antarctica 107 years after it sank

byMihai Andrei
3 years ago
Climate

‘Rivers’ of air are cracking open the Antarctic — for global warming, this is a problem

byMihai Andrei
5 years ago
Climate

Antarctica records its hottest day in history

byMihai Andrei
5 years ago

Recent news

This Startup Is Using Ancient DNA to Recreate Perfumes from Extinct Flowers

May 21, 2025

Jupiter Was Twice Its Size and Had a Magnetic Field 50 Times Stronger After the Solar System Formed

May 21, 2025

How One Man and a Legendary Canoe Rescued the Dying Art of Polynesian Navigation

May 21, 2025 - Updated on May 22, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.