A rare moment of a critically endangered Bryde's whale and a calf feeding off the coast of Auckland in what is thought to be the first time such behaviour has been filmed on a drone.
The footage was captured during research by AUT post-graduate students Ticiana Fetterman and Lorenzo Fiori's respective Masters and PhD projects.
The pair were stunned to have witnessed the feeding recorded on a custom-built unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) also designed at AUT, which flew at least 40 metres from the whales.
The adult captured on camera is estimated to be around 10 years old, around 12 metres long and weighing 12 tonnes.
AUT senior lecturer in geospatial science Dr Barbara Bollard Breen says to be able to have recorded the feeding was "very special" and gives an unobtrusive looks into their feeding habits.
"Using a UAV allowed Ticiana and Lorenzo to film without disturbing the surrounding wildlife revealing footage of the whales feeding that we wouldn't have been able to see from a boat-based survey," she says.
There are thought to be fewer than 200 Bryde's whales left in New Zealand waters.
They feed on plankton which lives near the surface of the water.
Newshub.
