How do you study humpback whales when the sea is foggy and visibility is poor, every day of the expedition counts, and the whales are in no hurry to show themselves to people? You can bring in a dog's nose.
Since 2024, scientists have been training a biodetector dog, Zhuzha, on sea expeditions: a Jack Russell terrier who can find whales by scent. With the support of the Priroda i Lyudi foundation, Zhuzha has completed special training and has already shown good results on expeditions.
Now the specialists want to teach other dogs to do the same.
In the Murmansk region, the Priroda i Lyudi foundation is preparing to launch training for biodetector dogs. Tail-wagging volunteers, accompanied by their owners, will learn to find whales and traces of their activity by scent. In the future, they can be taken on sea expeditions to help scientists. A campaign for the first training session, as part of the project “Training biodetector dogs to study humpback whales”, has now opened on the Tooba platform.
Why does it matter?
The humpback whales of the Barents Sea are listed in the Red Data Book, and scientists need up-to-date data on their numbers, distribution and behavior. The more reliable information they manage to collect, the more effectively measures to protect them can be developed.
The project is carried out in partnership with the Marine Mammal Council and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS).
