HIMB Conducts First Study to Calculate Survival Needs of Pilot Whales
The short-finned pilot whales that populate Hawaiian waters are historically understudied, but groundbreaking research published today in the Journal of Experimental Biology has–for the first time–established their detailed “energetic budget,” offering key insights into their survival.
KĀNEʻOHE, HAWAIʻI–November 13– The short-finned pilot whales that populate Hawaiian waters are historically understudied, but groundbreaking research published today in the Journal of Experimental Biology has–for the first time–established their detailed “energetic budget,” offering key insights into their survival. The research, led by scientists at UH Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), with main collaborators from the Pacific Whale Foundation and Cascadia Research Collective, reveals the whales must consume millions of squid every year to maintain their deep-diving lifestyle.
“Pilot whales are one of the only oceanic dolphins that regularly dive to extreme depths—up to 1,000 meters—to find prey,” explains William Gough, MMRP Postdoctoral Researcher and lead author of the study. “This deep-diving, high-risk foraging strategy requires a delicate balance between the energy they spend and the energy they acquire. Our study is the first step in quantifying that balance for this specific population.”