WEDNESDAY JANUARY 3 2024
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KILLER WHALE POOP
West Van lab sheds light on health of orcas NICK LABA
nlaba@nsnews.com
Killer whales in the coastal waters of British Columbia are swimming against the current.
Affected by marine contaminants, overfishing and the incessant thrum of boat traffic, several populations of these ecologically critical apex predators now face uncertain futures. Particularly dire is the southern resident killer whale ecotype, whose declining headcount numbers just 73. But a new lab in West Vancouver is using a bottom-up method to shed light on their cousins, the northern resident killer whales, in hopes of finding ways to avoid a similar fate. While no one would consider research conducted at the site to be second rate, the lab in fact specializes in No. 2. Near the centre of the maze-like collection of corridors and rooms that is the Pacific Science Enterprise Centre on Marine Drive, a fridge door is opened by Adam Warner of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. Inside, racks of chilly shelves are stacked with vials. Some contain liquids – others are crowded with tangles of hair. All of them are whale poop. But the excrement is just a means to an end. Inside the samples are DNA, from the predators themselves, and
Research scientist Adam Warner with the Raincoast Conservation Foundation uses specialized tools to extract genetic information from fecal matter. NICK LABA / NSN what they’ve been eating. With that information, Warner can determine where cetaceans and other coastal carnivores like wolves have been finding their meals, and help assess the group’s overall health. Before the whale scat is dropped off at the lab, Raincoast scientists tail the cetaceans in boats to scoop
their leavings. On a genetic level, research from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has shown that the southern residents are highly inbred, and how that inbreeding is likely contributing to their continued decline. Continued on A18
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