BiopsyA wealth of information in a tiny bit of whale blubber
A minuscule piece of skin and fat can be used to reveal genetic secrets, dietary information and even levels and types of accumulated contaminants. All that is required is a crossbow armed with a special dart-tipped bolt. In this way several milligrams of skin and fat are taken from the whale without having to immobilize or disturb it for more than a few seconds. The MICS has been using this technique in the St. Lawrence since 1990
to determine the sex of humpback
whales, blue whales , fin whales and minke whales. The GREMM has been
performing biopsies on belugas since 1994 to determine
sex and family ties. The GREMM has also been
participating in an international project on fin whales since 1998 to find
out, among other things, where the fin whales of the St. Lawrence come
from. DOES IT HURT?The risks and benefits of biopsy sampling
GREMM cautiously evaluated biopsy sampling of belugas before commencing field work. No matter how you look at it, this project involves taking a piece of skin and fat from an animal belonging to a threatened population. GREMM decided to go ahead with the project in 1994, after weighing the pros and cons, all the while continuing to closely monitor the possible risks involved in this kind of work. Véronik de la Chenelière, a student from McGill University under GREMM supervision, analyzed the risks and benefits of this technique in detail using three years of collected data. In her thesis, she sets forth a decision-making model for research projects dealing with protected species. She concluded that biopsy sampling represented little risk for the St. Lawrence belugas. On the contrary, this technique could help in assuring a secure future for this population. Television report on whale gender identification (French only) Discover projects that use the biopsy technique:Do beluga whales have friends? Are living belugas as contaminated as dead belugas? Who are the St. Lawrence blue whales? What ties unite the fin whales of the North Atlantic? Is it possible to do a pregnancy test on free-ranging cetaceans? |