Video Albatrozes e baleias / Abatrosses and whales

The cameras attached to albatrosses captured the feeding habits of the birds.

The image is hazy and the horizon is leaning hard to one side, but this is the first photographic evidence of an albatross following a killer whale as it patrols the Southern Ocean in search of food.

The snap was taken from a lipstick-sized camera attached to the back of a black-browed albatross nesting on Bird Island off the north-west tip of South Georgia.


The image comes from a a study of the birds' foraging behavior by scientists at the National Institute of Polar Research in Japan and the British Antarctic Survey. Three other albatrosses were following the whale at the time.

The tiny cameras were developed to help understand how vulnerable albatrosses, which can fly hundreds of kilometres in a few days, locate food in the open, featureless oceans.

This image, and others taken by the group, suggest the birds trail behind killer whales and fishing trawlers and pick up the scraps left in their wake.


The research is published in the open-access journal Plos One.

Câmeras atadas a albatrozes captaram os hábitos alimentares do pássaros.


As imagens são obscuras, e o horizonte inclina-se para um dos lados, mas esta é a primeira prova fotográfica de um albatroz seguindo uma baleia assassina, em sua patrulha do oceano ao sul, à procura de alimento.

As imagens foram feitas com uma câmera-palito, atada às costas de um albatroz de fronte negra, aninhado na Ilha dos Pássaros, ao largo de ponta oeste da Ilha Geórgia do Sul.

As imagens são de um estudo sobre o comportamento alimentar dos pássaros feito no  Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa Polar no Japão e a Pesquisa Antártica Britânica. Três outros albatrozes seguiam a baleia na ocasião.

As pequeninas câmeras foram desenvolvidas par auxiliar a compreensão da vulnerabilidade dos albatrozes, que podem voar por centenas de quilômetros em poucos dias, e encontrar alimento nos oceanos abertos, sem referências.

This image, and others taken by the group, suggest the birds trail behind killer whales and fishing trawlers and pick up the scraps left in their wake.

A pesquisa está publicada no jornal de acesso livre Plos One.