A team led by Lance Barrett-Lennard, head of the Vancouver Aquarium's Marine Mammal Research Program collaborated with researchers John Durban and Holly Fearnbach from the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to observe and record images of Northern Resident killer whales using a drone.

During 60 missions, the hexacopter took about 30,000 images, it is a remotely-operated flying vehicle with six rotors, normally called a drone. It is the first time that researchers used a hexacopter in killer whale field research.

With the help of the drone's camera, scientists see the whales from a much different perspective than from a nearby vessel. They can easily identify a condition known as "peanut head" where the white eye patches taper inward on underweight animals. An APH-22 hexacopter captured aerial images and video of 77 northern resident killer whales and five transient killer whales.

According to Barrett-Lennard, the majority of the whales observed in good condition as there was a plenty supply of chinook salmon in the area to feed on.

Scientists say they have plans to keep using the drone since it doesn't have any impact on the whales and the information they have acquired was important for them. Researchers are still evaluating the images and they can learn much more about a whale's health.

Since 1956, the Vancouver Aquarium has been examining killer whales. Scientists were not able to find out how northern resident killer whales physically reacted in reply to alterations in runs of Chinook salmon, their major source of food.

"This will help us understand how often they lose calves in the first few months of life. We know a lot about the calving rate, but we don't know how often stillborn or neonate or early childhood births occur", said Lance Barrett- Lennard.