Nueva publicacion sobre ballenas azules del Pacifico suroriental/New study out on southeast Pacific blue whales

Amigos y colegas en la Universidad Austral de Chile y el Centro Ballena Azul, Dr. Juan Pablo Torres, Dr. Rodrigo Hucke-Gaete y colaboradores, acaban de publicar este estudio sobre la genetica de ballenas azules del Pacifico suroriental. Este estudio apoya fuertemente a la teoria que las ballenas azules "chilenas" son una poblacion delimitada en el hemisferio sur, moviendose entre el Pacifico tropical y el sur de Chile. Esto es tambien lo que he estado viendo en el trabajo de acustica de ballenas y por otros estudios de avistamientos e incluso datos de caza.

Friends and colleagues at the Austral Univeristy of Chile and the Blue Whale Center, Dr. Juan Pablo Torres, Dr. Rodrigo Hucke-Gaete and collaborators, have just published this research on southeast Pacific blue whales. This genetics study strongly supports the theory that our "Chilean" blue whales are a distinct population from other blue whales in the southern hemisphere, moving between the eastern Tropical Pacific and the south of Chile. And this is also what I have found in my acoustics work and is also supported by sightings and even whaling data.

All this information should go towards putting in place conservation measures for protecting the worlds largest animal and its habitat along the Pacific coast of South America.

Read more at Science Daily.

Credit: R. Hucke-Gaete (UACh/CBA)