How do you weigh a massive whale?

Dead whales, stranded and decaying on beaches, can sometimes be weighed. But weighing a live whale is nearly impossible.

Until now. 

Marine scientists have developed an innovative way to accurately estimate the heft of free-living whales by using drones to capture aerial footage of cetacean bodies. Scientists published the research Wednesday in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 

Knowing the weight of whales is valuable for grasping the health, trends, and nutritional requirements of these giant and profoundly intelligent mammals.

"Body weight is a fundamental characteristic in animals and especially whales — they are the largest animals on the planet," said Fredrik Christiansen, lead author of the research and a marine ecophysiologist at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies in Denmark.  Read more...

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