Post by Murdoch University

As drones become more common in wildlife research, there's a growing need to make sure they aren't changing animals' natural behaviour. While they have been found to affect some marine animals, like whales, dolphins and seabirds, those responses vary a lot between species and situations and have typically been measured only by observation. In the first study to use biotelemetric data to assess the effects of drones on the natural behaviour of water-breathing marine species, our research fellow Dr Samantha Reynolds from the Harry Butler Institute investigated their impact on whale sharks in the Ningaloo Reef. “We found no evidence that drones disturbed whale sharks when flown overhead at heights between 10 and 60 metres,” she said. Dr Reynolds said the study should provide confidence to researchers and managers that drones are a minimally invasive research tool for whale sharks but emphasised that a precautionary approach was still essential. Read the full story 👇 https://loom.ly/1Zc2JiM