As big as whales are, they are pretty hard to study and keep track of. Most techniques require to kill them in order to examine them. However, scientists think they have developed a way for them to collect biological samples from these animals test to see if they are pregnant or just horny.
Presumably, this would be a relatively simple, cheap and non-invasive way to get more information. To test this method, researchers in Austrailia collected 35 samples from two types of whales. They attached a stocking to a pole and then dangled it over the animals' blowhole when they came up for air. Tada! Whale blow soaked nylons!
Although scientists originally thought whale blow was simply air and water, it actually includes lung mucus. So instead of whales simply blowing air out, they are actually sort of sneezing. Measurable levels of the hormones progesterone and testosterone were also present in the blow, allowing scientists to figure out the sexual health of the animal.
For example, whales that were coming back from tropical waters, where they are thought to breed and bore offspring actually were still hormonally in the breeding period. In the long term sense, scientists hope to discover why certain whales are unable to breed.
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