Relative to the whale, the camera tags are tiny and generally go unnoticed. When tagging snoozing humpbacks in the Antarctic, Dr. Friedlaender said he turns off the boat’s engine and paddles up quietly, speaking only in whispers so he doesn’t wake the whale. Onetime a whale woke up, got curious and played with the boat, swimming under it and rolling along it. Dr. Friedlaender was lucky not to fall in, and never has, because safety — for the team and the whales — comes first. “The development of these technologies allows us to see things in a way that we just didn’t have the opportunity to see before,” said Dr. Friedlaender.

Source: New York Times July 07, 2017 20:08 UTC