{"id":246795,"date":"2026-01-22T21:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/246795\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T21:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:39:09","slug":"drone-captures-incredible-whale-hunting-behaviour-in-canada-experts-think-theyve-only-just-learned-how-to-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/246795\/","title":{"rendered":"Drone captures incredible whale hunting behaviour in Canada. Experts think they&#8217;ve only just learned how to do it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bubble net feeding is spreading into\u00a0humpback whale\u00a0populations in the Canadian Pacific and researchers think it might have been introduced by whales from other areas, according to a new study <a href=\"https:\/\/dmscdn.vuelio.co.uk\/publicitem\/cb529bc9-2c3f-4360-9f61-58641f24ce64\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a>\u00a0in the scientific journal\u00a0Proceedings of the Royal Society B.<\/p>\n<p>Bubble net feeding is when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/wildlife\/marine-life\/humpback-whales\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">humpback whales<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/how-whales-kill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">work together to herd<\/a>\u00a0fish into a tight group, blowing a curtain of bubbles so they can\u2019t escape and driving them up to the surface to gobble them up. It\u2019s actually seen as an example of the clever cetaceans using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/humpback-whale-bubble-net-feeding\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tools<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Drone captures humpback whales bubble netting off Fin Island in British Columbia, Canada. Credit: North Coast Cetatean Society<\/p>\n<p>Tourists flock to Alaska from around the world to see this\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/humpback-whales-bubble-net-feeding-alaska\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">impressive spectacle<\/a>\u00a0but it\u2019s also starting to be seen among Canadian humpbacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This could be because immigrant whales have arrived in the area and are \u2018importing\u2019 the clever strategy by teaching it to whales who didn\u2019t know how to do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Experts think the bubble netting knowledge may have spread from humpback whale populations in Alaska. Credit: North Coast Cetacean Society<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBubble-net feeding isn\u2019t just a foraging trick,\u201d says lead author <a href=\"https:\/\/research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk\/en\/persons\/%C3%A9adin-nora-anna-omahony\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dr\u00a0\u00c9adin\u00a0O\u2019Mahony<\/a>, a researcher at the University of St Andrews, in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/news-releases\/1113180\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a form of shared knowledge that strengthens the resilience of the entire population.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The study shows the importance of whale culture as species recover from whaling. \u201cCultural loss can be just as damaging as population loss and potentially just as hard to restore,\u201d O\u2019Mahony says. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cProtecting areas where distinct learned behaviours are concentrated could deliver conservation benefits that ripple far beyond local waters.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The research was conducted in\u202fGitga\u2019at First Nation territory, within the Kitimat Fjord System of northern British Columbia, Canada. Credit: North Coast Cetatean Society<\/p>\n<p>Top image: Humpback whales bubble netting. Credit: North Coast Cetatean Society<\/p>\n<p>More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bubble net feeding is spreading into\u00a0humpback whale\u00a0populations in the Canadian Pacific and researchers think it might have been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-246795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}