{"id":165423,"date":"2024-10-31T13:30:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T13:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/31\/this-marine-biologist-discovered-a-unique-blue-whale-population-in-sri-lanka\/"},"modified":"2024-10-31T13:30:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T13:30:44","slug":"this-marine-biologist-discovered-a-unique-blue-whale-population-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/31\/this-marine-biologist-discovered-a-unique-blue-whale-population-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"This marine biologist discovered a unique blue whale population in Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pooping whales changed the course of Asha de Vos\u2019 career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lankan marine biologist was aboard a research vessel near her home island in 2003 when she spotted six blue whales congregating. A bright red plume of whale waste was spreading across the water\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Seeing whale poop, colored red thanks to the whale\u2019s diet, was the first clue that Sri Lanka\u2019s blue whales don\u2019t migrate between feeding and breeding areas.<\/span>A. de Vos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

De Vos, then a master\u2019s student, recalls being \u201csuper excited.\u201d What she witnessed went against prevailing dogma: Her textbooks and professors had taught that blue whales, like other large whales, embark on long-distance migrations between colder feeding areas and warmer breeding and calving areas. But seeing whales pooping in tropical waters meant the behemoths must be feasting locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intrigued, de Vos spent the next few years documenting how blue whales near Sri Lanka differ from those elsewhere in the world. For one, the population feeds on shrimp rather than krill<\/a>. The whales also have unique songs<\/a>. But the key difference, she realized, is that they remain year-round<\/a> in the waters between Sri Lanka, Oman and the Maldives \u2014 making them the only nonmigratory blue whales in the world. Abundant upwellings of nutrient-rich water from the ocean depths support a steady food supply for the whales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, the International Whaling Commission, the intergovernmental body dedicated to protecting whales, recognized Sri Lanka\u2019s blue whales as a distinct subspecies called Balaenoptera musculus indica<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By studying the blue whales around Sri Lanka, marine biologist Asha de Vos discovered they are the only nonmigratory blue whales in the world.<\/span>Franco Banfi\/Nature Picture Library\/Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This distinction is crucial for conservation management, explains retired whale biologist Phillip Clapham, formerly of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s National Marine Fisheries Service. Small, localized populations \u2014 like the one in Sri Lanka \u2014 face higher risks of being wiped out in the face of environmental or human threats, such as deep-sea mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than two decades on, de Vos is now one of Sri Lanka\u2019s most renowned scientists \u2014 famed for nurturing the country\u2019s nascent marine biology scene. She is also an ardent champion for greater diversity among researchers in ocean conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n