In the Arctic, Drones Help Identify Deadly Virus in Whales

How drones detected a deadly threat to Arctic whales

Arctic marine life is notoriously difficult to study because of its remoteness. But drones have enabled whales to be monitored and diagnosed while being minimally invasive, according to a new study.Arctic airBy having drones collect samples of whale breath or “blow” from humpback, sperm and fin whales in the northeast Atlantic to screen for pathogens, researchers have “confirmed for the first time that a potentially deadly whale virus” is “circu…

In the Arctic, Drones Help Identify Deadly Virus in Whales

In northern Norway, scientists detected a disease-causing virus in humpback whales by flying drones over them. It is the first time the virus, known as cetacean morbillivirus, has been identified in Arctic waters.