North Atlantic Right Whale Conservation
Background

The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered whales in the world. Approximately 300 individuals remain. In the past decade, birth rates have declined steeply for unknown reasons, and death rates have increased due to entanglement in fishing nets and perhaps propeller injuries from large ships. We are addressing these problems by monitoring stress and reproductive hormones in whale feces, working in collaboration with Rosalind Rolland and Scott Kraus of the New England Aquarium.

As part of this project, we developed the first pregnancy test ever for free-living baleen whales. Fecal progesterone and estrogen are thousands of times greater in pregant than in non-pregnant females. This new method is helping us determine why birth rates have declined in this species.

We have also developed the first test ever for age of sexual maturity in baleen whales, solving a long-standing puzzle of whale biology. In both sexes, mature whales have significantly higher levels of reproductive fecal hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone) than immature whales. These data have shown that right whales reach sexual maturity four years later than previously assumed. Such information is critical to developing more effective population models in this and other species.
Recent stressful events are being monitored using fecal stress hormones (glucocorticoids). The high glucocorticoid levels in feces of a whale that became fatally entangled in a fishing line in 2001 illustrates this approach. As can be seen below, stress hormones are also affected by gender and reproductive state.

Most recently we worked in collaboration with Packleader Dog Training, to train detection dogs to locate right whale scat from the bow of a small boat. Dogs detected samples from a nautical mile from the source, and located 3-5 times the number of sample per unit effort than were collected by human observers. These combined tools are being used to help identify the timing and cause(s) of reproductive failure and mortality in this species, which hopefully will inform mitigation efforts aimed at facilitating right whale recovery.

The dog handler signals to the helmsman the direction to steer as indicated by the detection dog during a search for a right whale scat sample. From:  RM Rolland, PK Hamilton SD Kraus, B Davenport, RM Bower and SK Wasser.  2006. Faecal sampling to study reproduction and health in North Atlantic right whales.  Journal of Cetacean Research and Management.  in press.
Fargo, surprised to see what was at the other end of the scat.

Publications:

Rolland, R, P Hamilton, S Kraus, B Davenport, R Gillett, S Wasser. 2006. Faecal sampling using detection dogs to study reproduction and health in North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis). Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 8(2):121-125.