Equipment to tag, track and collect biopsies from whales and dolphins: the ARTS, DFHorten and LKDart systems

Abstract

Of all animals considered subjects for instrumentation for behavioral or physiological studies, cetaceans probably represent the greatest challenge to the engineer and biologist. The marine environment being harsh to electronics, evasive behavior during tagging approaches and the short time window available to attach instruments, all imply a need for innovative tagging solutions to facilitate better understanding of their life cycle, migration, physiology, behavior, health and genetics. Several animal-attached tag packages holding specific data loggers, e.g., time depth recorders, position, orientation, acoustic and video recorders for short to medium term studies, as well as tags developed for large scale migration telemetry studies are available as off-the-shelf devices, or in many cases as custom made sensor packages. Deployment of those instruments is often the limiting factor for data collection. The Aerial Remote Tag System (ARTS) is a flexible system which can easily be adapted to deploy different tag sensor packages and biopsy collection devices. This paper presents the history and design of the ARTS, and accessories developed for instrumentation and biopsy sampling of cetaceans, such as the recent developed ARTS–LKDart for biopsy sampling. Deployment of archival tags usually requires radio tracking of the instrumented animal, or at least tracking of the tag for recovery. Thus, we also here describe the automatic digital signal processing radio direction finder, the Direction Finder Horten (DFHorten unit).

Call combination patterns in Icelandic killer whales (Orcinus orca)

“…These locations are herring spawning and overwintering grounds, respectively, and killer whales are known to gather there in large numbers during summer or winter/spring to feed on herring 63 . Digital acoustic recording tags (Dtags, flat frequency response: 0.6–45 kHz) 64 and a Customized Animal Tracking Solutions (CATS; www.cats.is ) Diary tag with an integrated hydrophone (HTI-96-Min; flat frequency response up to 30 kHz) were attached to killer whales using a carbon fibre pole or pneumatic tag launcher (ARTS) 65 . Tags attached to the body of the whale with suction cups.…”

Norwegian killer whale movements reflect their different prey types

“…Our procedures for satellite tagging and tag programming have been described in detail in previous articles (Mul et al 2019;Dietz et al 2020;Vogel et al 2021). In short, an aerial rocket tagging system (Kleivane et al 2022) was used to deploy either SPOT5 or SPOT6 Limpet Argos transmitters (Wildlife Computers) onto the dorsal fin of killer whales. This placement maximized both tag retention and the accuracy of positions determined from the satellite-based Argos system (Mul et al 2019).…”

Phthalate Contamination in Marine Mammals Off the Norwegian Coast

“…1). A biopsy of skin and blubber (~4 cm long) was collected using the ARTS darting system operated from a Rigid Inflatable Boat, and targeting the region directly below or posterior to the dorsal fin (Kleivane et al, 2022). Adult males were identified based on observable secondary sexual characteristics (overall body size and height of the dorsal fin), per Ford et al (2014), and other individuals classed as "Unknown" due to adult females and subadult individuals being indistinguishable from observations of size / dorsal fin.…”