{"id":624355,"date":"2026-10-08T12:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T12:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/624355\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T12:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T12:40:08","slug":"scientists-are-unsure-how-many-exist-or-how-rare-they-are-drone-captures-elusive-animal-the-length-of-a-shipping-container-hunting-in-indonesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/624355\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Scientists are unsure how many exist or how rare they are.&#8221; Drone captures elusive animal the length of a shipping container hunting in Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A marine biologist in Indonesia captured spectacular footage of an Omura\u2019s whale feasting on krill in the Dampier Strait, Raja Ampat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dr.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reshark.org\/leadership\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Erdmann<\/a>, executive director of the shark conservation initiative ReShark, sometimes hosts conservation cruises in partnership with\u00a0Silolona Sojourns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While onboard the\u00a0MY Silolona\u00a0in March 2026,\u00a0he saw something that passes most visitors by: a feeding Omura\u2019s whale. \u201cThough rarely noticed by tourists to Raja Ampat, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/rarest-whales-and-dolphins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Omura\u2019s whales<\/a> are resident year-round,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Despite reaching the size of a shipping container \u2013 around\u00a012m\u00a0long \u2013 it can be hard to spot these elusive animals in the water. This makes them difficult to study. \u201cSo little is known about Omura&#8217;s whales that scientists are unsure of how many exist or how rare they are,\u201d says\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us.whales.org\/whales-dolphins\/species-guide\/omuras-whale\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Whale &amp; Dolphin Conservation USA<\/a>\u00a0on its website.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One giveaway that there\u2019s an Omura\u2019s whale nearby is seeing it exhale at the surface. Its blow is said to look quite weak and low but it can still be a hint that there&#8217;s an animal just below the surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe eagle-eyed crew spotted the whale\u2019s spout in the distance,\u201d says Erdmann. \u201cI launched my drone and was delighted to find the Omura\u2019s whale actively feeding on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/insects-invertebrates\/facts-about-krill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">krill<\/a>\u00a0swarms on the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dramatic drone footage shows the Omura&#8217;s whale feeding. Credit: Mark Erdmann, Silolona Sojourns<\/p>\n<p>From his birds-eye-view, he could see the feeding event in extraordinary detail. These filter-feeders guzzle down vast amounts of krill and plankton. Expandable pleats in their throat allow them to take in bigger mouthfuls of water to get as much food as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Their impressive snacking abilities are highlighted in the amazing video. Erdmann adds: \u201cAt the end of the clip you can see the whale lunge and open its mouth wide to take in a huge gulp of krill and water that it then filters through its baleen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n<p>Top image credit: Mark Erdmann, Silolona Sojourns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A marine biologist in Indonesia captured spectacular footage of an Omura\u2019s whale feasting on krill in the Dampier&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-624355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624355","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=624355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}