After 15 years of research, the Wildlife Conservation Society, unveiled the largest genetic study of humpback whale populations ever conducted in the Southern Hemisphere.
DNA samples of more than 1,500 whales were analyzed and are now able to get population dynamics. "Humpback whales are perhaps the most studied species of great whale in the Northern Hemisphere, but many of the interactions among Southern Hemisphere populations are still poorly understood," said Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Ocean Giants Program and lead author of the study. "This research illustrates the vast potential of genetic analyses to uncover the mysteries of how humpbacks travel and form populations in the southern ocean basins."
Scientists collected samples from living whales with biopsy darts fired from crossbows, which didn't harm the mammels, just skimmed there skin as they came up for air.
Some of the things they discovered: The highest rate of gene flow between populations is between the whales that breed on either side of the African continent. There is a lower rate of gene flow between humpbacks breeding on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
To find out more of the things they discovered and more about the experiment, just go to science daily.com
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