WELLINGTON: Tohora, or southern right whales, are searching further north and south for food across the Southern Ocean, researchers said today.
The researchers from the University of Auckland said the changes happened over the past 30 years, after a long period of ‘remarkable consistency’ in whale feeding ranges dating back to the 1700s.
The change is likely driven by climate-associated changes in the availability of krill and other small crustaceans which tohora feed on, according to the research published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in the United States, said Xinhua.
Researchers report the effects of whaling and climate change on southern right whales since 1792. Variations in large marine predator populations can provide insight into long-term environmental changes in the Southern Ocean, it said.
According to the authors, since 1994, southern right whale populations have shifted their foraging grounds in the south Atlantic and southwest Indian oceans from high to low latitudes and slightly shifted their foraging grounds in the southwest Pacific Ocean to high latitudes.
These shifts in southern right whale’s foraging correspond with contemporary changes in prey distributions, researchers said.
The results suggest that climate change has driven recent shifts in southern right whale distribution and could help identify priority areas for conservation, according to the authors. – Bernama
Source: New Straits Times
