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Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic

Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) have a nearly circumpolar distribution, and occasionally occupy warmer shallow coastal areas during summertime that may facilitate molting. However, relatively little is known about the occurrence of molting and associated behaviors in bowhead whales. We opportuni...

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Autores principales: Fortune, Sarah M. E., Koski, William R., Higdon, Jeff W., Trites, Andrew W., Baumgartner, Mark F., Ferguson, Steven H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5699794/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29166385
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186156
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author Fortune, Sarah M. E.
Koski, William R.
Higdon, Jeff W.
Trites, Andrew W.
Baumgartner, Mark F.
Ferguson, Steven H.
author_facet Fortune, Sarah M. E.
Koski, William R.
Higdon, Jeff W.
Trites, Andrew W.
Baumgartner, Mark F.
Ferguson, Steven H.
author_sort Fortune, Sarah M. E.
collection PubMed
description Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) have a nearly circumpolar distribution, and occasionally occupy warmer shallow coastal areas during summertime that may facilitate molting. However, relatively little is known about the occurrence of molting and associated behaviors in bowhead whales. We opportunistically observed whales in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut, Canada with skin irregularities consistent with molting during August 2014, and collected a skin sample from a biopsied whale that revealed loose epidermis and sloughing. During August 2016, we flew a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) over whales to take video and still images to: 1) determine unique individuals; 2) estimate the proportion of the body of unique individuals that exhibited sloughing skin; 3) determine the presence or absence of superficial lines representative of rock-rubbing behavior; and 4) measure body lengths to infer age-class. The still images revealed that all individuals (n = 81 whales) were sloughing skin, and that nearly 40% of them had mottled skin over more than two-thirds of their bodies. The video images captured bowhead whales rubbing on large rocks in shallow, coastal areas—likely to facilitate molting. Molting and rock rubbing appears to be pervasive during late summer for whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic.
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spelling pubmed-56997942017-12-08 Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic Fortune, Sarah M. E. Koski, William R. Higdon, Jeff W. Trites, Andrew W. Baumgartner, Mark F. Ferguson, Steven H. PLoS One Research Article Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) have a nearly circumpolar distribution, and occasionally occupy warmer shallow coastal areas during summertime that may facilitate molting. However, relatively little is known about the occurrence of molting and associated behaviors in bowhead whales. We opportunistically observed whales in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut, Canada with skin irregularities consistent with molting during August 2014, and collected a skin sample from a biopsied whale that revealed loose epidermis and sloughing. During August 2016, we flew a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) over whales to take video and still images to: 1) determine unique individuals; 2) estimate the proportion of the body of unique individuals that exhibited sloughing skin; 3) determine the presence or absence of superficial lines representative of rock-rubbing behavior; and 4) measure body lengths to infer age-class. The still images revealed that all individuals (n = 81 whales) were sloughing skin, and that nearly 40% of them had mottled skin over more than two-thirds of their bodies. The video images captured bowhead whales rubbing on large rocks in shallow, coastal areas—likely to facilitate molting. Molting and rock rubbing appears to be pervasive during late summer for whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Public Library of Science 2017-11-22 /pmc/articles/PMC5699794/ /pubmed/29166385 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186156 Text en © 2017 Fortune et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Fortune, Sarah M. E.
Koski, William R.
Higdon, Jeff W.
Trites, Andrew W.
Baumgartner, Mark F.
Ferguson, Steven H.
Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic
title Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic
title_full Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic
title_fullStr Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic
title_full_unstemmed Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic
title_short Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic
title_sort evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern canadian arctic
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5699794/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29166385
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186156
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