{"id":377167,"date":"2025-08-27T08:35:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T08:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/377167\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T08:35:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T08:35:18","slug":"when-researchers-put-a-camera-tag-on-a-whale-they-never-expected-to-see-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/377167\/","title":{"rendered":"When researchers put a camera tag on a whale, they never expected to see this"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NOAA scientists have shared the magical moment a\u00a0humpback whale\u00a0breached \u2013 from the whale\u2019s point of view.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve seen a breach, but have you seen it from the whale\u2019s point of view?\u201d says\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/stellwagenbanknms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary<\/a>\u00a0(SBNMS) on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DMKtWFUO2Xd\/?igsh=Y3ltemQ0ejZpcTdu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers shared a video taken by non-invasive suction-cup tags attached to a humpback whale named Spell. Scientists use these\u00a0tags\u00a0to collect data on the animals they are studying. In some instances, like this one, they can capture video footage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the tags can be programmed off for a timed release, they often pop-off due to the whale\u2019s natural behaviour, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/why-do-whales-breach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">breaching<\/a>,\u201d says NOAA SBNMS.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s exactly what happened in the footage they shared. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/humpback-whale-facts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">humpback whale<\/a> propels herself through the water by moving her powerful tail. Then, after she\u2019s gathered enough speed, she shoots to the surface and jumps joyfully out of the water. <\/p>\n<p>As she landed with a splash, she also managed to dislodge the tiny camera. &#8220;The tag popped off moments after her [breach],\u201d says NOAA SBNMS.<\/p>\n<p>There are many theories around\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/why-do-whales-breach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">why whales breach<\/a>\u00a0but it could be to do with communication, removing parasites or just because it\u2019s so much fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><video controls=\"\" poster=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2025\/08\/Whale-tagging.png\" preload=\"none\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2025\/08\/Whale-tagging-1.mp4\"\/>Footage shows a tag being attached to the humpback whale. Credit: NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS)\/Laura Howes<br \/>\n<video controls=\"\" poster=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2025\/08\/Whale-tagging-and-breach.jpg\" preload=\"none\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2025\/08\/Whale-tagging-and-breach.mp4\"\/>Intimate footage shows the whale breaching \u2013 from the whale&#8217;s point of view. Credit:  NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) \/Laura Howes<\/p>\n<p>Video and image credit: collected under NMFS permit 27272-01 |\u00a0NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) | Laura Howes<\/p>\n<p><strong>More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NOAA scientists have shared the magical moment a\u00a0humpback whale\u00a0breached \u2013 from the whale\u2019s point of view. \u201cYou\u2019ve seen&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[70,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-377167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115099816736738502","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}