It sounds pretty gross, and it is, but the story behind a unique effort to study whales is pretty interesting — and pretty inventive.
“We’ve invented a way to learn about whales while removing the need to harass them in the process. It’s called Snotbot,” is the straight talk from Ocean Alliance CEO Iain Kerr.
The idea is to fly custom drones over whales and then collect the mucus dispensed from their blowholes. The result will deliver data comparable to testing a whale’s lungs, and the whale will never even be bothered.
The group recruited actor and supporter Sir Patrick Stewart for a somewhat corny video, but stick with it and you’ll learn a lot, as we did.
Ocean Alliance has turned to a KickStarter campaign to raise funds for its $225,000 goal.
