Rare whale footage shot by drone thanks to AUT scientists
Unique footage of a
Bryde’s Whale has been released today by
Auckland University of Technology.
The footage shows an adult whale feeding, briefly joined by a young calf, and was filmed from a drone off the coast of
Auckland. It is thought to be the first time the feeding behaviour of a Bryde’s Whale has been recorded by an
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (
UAV).
The footage was captured by
AUT post-graduate students, Ticiana Fetterman and
Lorenzo Fiori, while on the water conducting their respective
Masters and PhD research. They were stunned to glimpse the whales, and to share the rarely seen moment with their research supervisor Dr
Barbara Bollard Breen.