Underwater Behavior of Blue Whales Using a Suction-cup Attached CRITTERCAM

Author(s):  
John Calambokidis ◽  
John Francis ◽  
Greg Marshall ◽  
Don Croll ◽  
Mark McDonald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Calambodidis ◽  
John Francis ◽  
Greg Marshall ◽  
Don Croll ◽  
Mark McDonald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20120986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy A. Goldbogen ◽  
John Calambokidis ◽  
Ari S. Friedlaender ◽  
John Francis ◽  
Stacy L. DeRuiter ◽  
...  

The extreme body size of blue whales requires a high energy intake and therefore demands efficient foraging strategies. As an obligate lunge feeder on aggregations of small zooplankton, blue whales engulf a large volume of prey-laden water in a single, rapid gulp. The efficiency of this feeding mechanism is strongly dependent on the amount of prey that can be captured during each lunge, yet food resources tend to be patchily distributed in both space and time. Here, we measured the three-dimensional kinematics and foraging behaviour of blue whales feeding on krill, using suction-cup attached multi-sensor tags. Our analyses revealed 360° rolling lunge-feeding manoeuvres that reorient the body and position the lower jaws so that a krill patch can be engulfed with the whale's body inverted. We also recorded these rolling behaviours when whales were in a searching mode in between lunges, suggesting that this behaviour also enables the whale to visually process the prey field and maximize foraging efficiency by surveying for the densest prey aggregations. These results reveal the complex manoeuvrability that is required for large rorqual whales to exploit prey patches and highlight the need to fully understand the three-dimensional interactions between predator and prey in the natural environment.


2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Calambokidis ◽  
Greg S. Schorr ◽  
Gretchen H. Steiger ◽  
John Francis ◽  
Mehdi Bakhtiari ◽  
...  

We examined the underwater behavior of blue whales using a suction-cup-attached video-imaging instrument (Crittercam). We made 13 successful deployments (defined as tag duration of >15 min and successful recovery of the tag and data) totaling 19 hours of Crittercams on blue whales off California and in the Sea of Cortez from spring through fall (26 February to 30 September) between 1999 and 2003. Whale diving depth and behavior varied widely by region and period, although deployments on different individuals in the same area and period often showed very similar feeding behavior. One deployment extending into night showed a diurnal shift in diving behavior with progressively shallower feeding dives as it became dark, with shift to shallow, apparently non-feeding dives during the night. Data and video from tags demonstrated that the characteristic series of vertical movements blue whales make at depth are lunges into dense aggregations of krill. These krill were visible streaming by the camera immediately before these lunges and more clearly when the whales' forward motion stopped as a result of the lunge. The progression of events leading up to and during the lunge could be documented from the head movement of whales and occasional views of the expanding throat pleats or lower jaw, and by changes in flow noise past the tag, indicating a rapid deceleration. One set of deployments in the Southern California Bight revealed consistent feeding at depths of 250-300 m, deeper than has been previously reported for blue whales. A loud blue whale vocalization was heard on only one deployment on a male blue whale in an interacting trio of animals.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 939-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomonari Akamatsu ◽  
Marianne Helene Rasmussen ◽  
Maria Iversen
Keyword(s):  

10.5772/7228 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hu Bing-Shan ◽  
Wang Li-Wen ◽  
Fu Zhuang ◽  
Zhao Yan-zheng

Wall climbing robots using negative pressure suction always employ air pumps which have great noise and large volume. Two prototypes of bio-inspired miniature suction cup actuated by shape memory alloy (SMA) are designed based on studying characteristics of biologic suction apparatuses, and the suction cups in this paper can be used as adhesion mechanisms for miniature wall climbing robots without air pumps. The first prototype with a two-way shape memory effect (TWSME) extension TiNi spring imitates the piston structure of the stalked sucker; the second one actuated by a one way SMA actuator with a bias has a basic structure of stiff margin, guiding element, leader and elastic element. Analytical model of the second prototype is founded considering the constitutive model of the SMA actuator, the deflection of the thin elastic plate under compound load and the thermo-dynamic model of the sealed air cavity. Experiments are done to test their suction characteristics, and the analytical model of the second prototype is simulated on Matlab/simulink platform and validated by experiments.


Author(s):  
Alessandro Bocconcelli ◽  
Leigh Hickmott ◽  
Rafaela Landea Briones ◽  
Gloria Howes ◽  
Laela Sayigh
Keyword(s):  

Actuators ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Hideyuki Tsukagoshi ◽  
Yuichi Osada

A universal suction cup that can stick to various objects expands the areas in which robots can work. However, the size, shape, and surface roughness of objects to which conventional suction cups can stick are limited. To overcome this challenge, we propose a new hybrid suction cup structure that uses the adhesive force of sticky gel and the suction force of negative pressure. In addition, a flexible and thin pneumatic balloon actuator with a check valve function is installed in the interior, enabling the controllable detachment from objects. The prototype has an outer diameter of 55 mm, a weight of 18.8 g, and generates an adsorption force of 80 N in the vertical direction and 60 N in the shear direction on porous walls where conventional suction cups struggle to adsorb. We confirmed that parts smaller than the suction cup and fragile potato chips are adsorbed by the prototype. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through experiments in which a drone with the prototypes can be attached to and detached from concrete walls and ceilings while flying; the possibility of adsorption to dusty and wet plates is discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 25-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fannie W. Shabangu ◽  
Ken P. Findlay ◽  
Dawit Yemane ◽  
Kathleen M. Stafford ◽  
Marcel van den Berg ◽  
...  

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