UNB researchers help filmmakers get closeup view of endangered whales

Hannah Rudderham · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 15, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Two University of New Brunswick researchers are preparing for different cruise into the Gulf of St. Lawrence this week to survey endangered North Atlantic close whales.

And the timing conscionable happens to correspond with the merchandise of an Apple TV+ documentary bid featuring six of the world's astir endangered animals.

Kim Davies, an subordinate prof successful biologic sciences, had a manus successful the occurrence connected close whales.

"This accumulation we did past twelvemonth was the largest 1 I've ever been progressive with,"  Davies said.

The Wild Ones has episodes dedicated to Malayan tigers, Gobi bears, Javan rhinos, Caucasian leopards, occidental lowland gorillas, and North Atlantic close whales.

The series, from U.K.-based accumulation institution Offspring Films, was released connected July 11. 

Davies runs a probe programme connected the close whales that inhabit New Brunswick waters successful spring, summertime and fall.

Currently, lone about 350 North Atlantic close whales are left, with adjacent less reproducing females, Davies said, and the colonisation is good beneath the people for recovery.

Davies said the squad goes retired each twelvemonth to bash assorted probe projects, and recently, started using new exertion to tag the whales utilizing drones.

The drones volition alert implicit a whale and driblet the tag, which volition suction to the whale, she said. The tags person cameras connected them, allowing for underwater footage.

The movie unit of The Wild Ones attended past summer's cruise, filming from its own vessel and past joining the researchers connected Davies's vessel during the tagging to seizure the underwater perspective.

"Any underwater footage that you spot from the position of the whale successful the documentary volition beryllium our probe program's publication to the work," she said.

WATCH | Scientist Kim Davies of UNB explains however she got involved: 

UNB, Dalhousie University and Ocean Alliance researchers were successful complaint of putting the cameras connected the whales for the underwater footage. Davies said the Canadian Whale Institute and Fisheries and Oceans Canada besides played a relation successful the production.

Jillian Carter, a UNB postgraduate student, was connected committee past summertime doing her ain probe connected what close whales are eating.

"In bid to support the close whales, we request to cognize wherever they're going to beryllium and wherever they usually are is linked to what they're eating successful the summertime," Carter said.

She said close whales devour tiny marine crustaceans called copepods, which are smaller than a atom of rice.

While Carter wasn't straight progressive with the tagging probe oregon filmmaking, she said the acquisition itself was surreal.

"It has been a lifelong imagination of excavation to enactment connected boats similar this, and past to person an Apple TV+ movie unit travel aboard, it's benignant of like, 'Wow. I can't judge this is existent life.'"  

Davies said the underwater footage was adjuvant for the TV crew, but it's besides important to scientists to reply cardinal questions astir however the whale behaves and uses its environment.

And she said researchers inactive person questions astir however close whales go entangled successful sportfishing cogwheel underwater.

While they person yet to observe an underwater entanglement with a tagged whale, she said, if they support tagging, they mightiness yet observe it and larn much astir however entanglements happen.

Although Davies has worked with different movie crews successful the past connected close whale documentaries, having an occurrence decided to the whale connected a streaming work with the planetary scope of Apple TV+ will apt person a affirmative effect, she said.

The bid could amended audiences who haven't had entree to erstwhile films astir close whales, she said..