Jackie Hildering is B次元官网网址淭he Marine DetectiveB次元官网网址�, an award-winning marine biologist who recently co-published a research paper which studied local humpback whales.
Hildering, alongside Christie McMillan and Jared Towers, were able to determine feeding patterns of whale species inhabiting the Broughton Archipelago. The three researchers are part of the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS).
B次元官网网址淪ince 2011, humpback whales off northeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia have been documented using a foraging innovation that we have called trap-feeding,B次元官网网址� the research paper stated. B次元官网网址淭his feeding strategy differs from typical lunge-feeding in that it is initiated from a stationary or near stationary position, and characterized by whales holding their mouths open at or just below the surface for an extended period of time.B次元官网网址�
Trap-feeding is a learned behaviour among humpbacks where the species sets a trap for juvenile herring, often gathered in small schools, stated the society. B次元官网网址淭he fish then accumulate in and around the mouth of the humpback to escape predation by diving birds.B次元官网网址�
Normally, humpback whales may employ what is called lunge feeding. The whales will scare schools of fish, gathering them into tighter groups. If the fish are near the surface of the water, the humpback whale will then jump out of the water, mouth open, to catch juvenile herring.
The North Island researchers found two humpback whales that trap-feed off Northeastern Vancouver Island back in 2011. Now, there are as many as 16 humpback whales confirmed to have used trap-feeding.
MERS stated that B次元官网网址渢his is the first published research on this novel feeding strategy, documented B次元官网网址� around northeastern Vancouver Island.B次元官网网址� The research reportedly spans over seven years, finally capped off with the marine biologistsB次元官网网址� research published in Marine Mammal Science.
B次元官网网址淚 want to share what I learn so that it may lead to greater knowledge, appreciation, and positive action for the Ocean to which we are all connected and upon which our survival depends,B次元官网网址� HilderingB次元官网网址檚 biography stated.
Hildering co-founded the Marine Education and Research Society, worked for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), B次元官网网址楴amgis First NationB次元官网网址檚 Kuterra company, and the SOS Marine Conservation Foundation. Towers researches transient and resident killer whales through DFOB次元官网网址檚 monitoring programs. McMillan also conducts research on killer whales, along with humpbacks and fin whales through DFO.
MERS is a registered charity organization that is dedicated to the conservation of marine ecosystems. According to BC Whales, B次元官网网址渉umpback whales were commercially hunted from the late 1800s to 1965. During this time period an estimated 28,000 humpback whales were caught in the North Pacific.B次元官网网址�
- Clarifications were made on other feeding strategies.
