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[andyrogan-blog]

Hanging out on the top platform of the research vessel Odyssey looking out for some sperm whales. During the summers of 2013 & 2014 I spent 4 months on the Odyssey in the Gulf of Mexico as part of a program study looking into the health of the offshore environment in a toxicological context. This was achieved by collecting skin/blubber biopsies from sperm whale and other large whales encountered (beaked whales, bryde's and pilot). The 8 months combined were 8 of the best months of my life, shifted the course of my life and introduced me to some of the most important & influential people in my life. Sperm whales can be massive, but how do you find a 50ft animal (males sometimes grow +60ft) in a body of water larger than France, Germany and Spain combined? I'll try and explain in my next post! @oceanalliance #oceanalliance #rvodyssey #odyssey #gulfofmexico #toxicology #environment #conservation #spermwhale #apexpredator #ocean #offshore #pelagic #smile #happy #water #fortheoceans #marine #cetacean #wild #nature

[andyrogan-blog]

eye-to-eye with a baby gray whale. The gray whales in San Ignacio lagoon, a large lagoon about half way up the west coast of Baja California, are often labelled the 'friendly whales' because they actively seek out the company of humans or perhaps more accurately boats. What evolutionary benefit is conveyed upon these animals for by this behaviour? Why seek out this interaction? Got me. Perhaps it is something to do with the fact that we engage with them on a level which no other animal they encounter does; i.e. not as predator or prey or any other level which evolution has taught them is normal; and our unusual interest in them sparks their inherent curiosity. Who knows! All I know is that interacting with a baby larger than the boat you are in and its 40-TON mum, and animals this intelligent, is an extraordinary experience. #SnotBot @oceanalliance #whale #graywhale #marine #ocean #sea #water #science #research #mexico #baja #wild #wildlife #nature #naturepic #baby #smile #happy #conservation #environment #dji #drone #djiinspire1

[andyrogan-blog]

Photobombed by a breaching humpback whale... perhaps photobombed would be a stretch, given how hard I was trying to actually get this in the shot... I'd like to say this was a 1/1000 photo, the reality was that this individual whale breached around 40 times in a row, making it easier to capture this shot. Taken during the third SnotBot Expedition to Frederick Sound, SE Alaska, August 2016. This is a program whereby we are looking into the various ways inexpensive consumer drones can be used to study marine mammals such as the humpback whales we were in Alaska to find. #SnotBot @oceanalliance #drone #dji #djiinspire1 #water #ocean #conservation #environment #marine #marinemammal #humpbackwhale #cetacean #science #research #drones #breach #whalehellothere #smile #happy #wild #wildlife #nature #naturepic #wildlifephotography #selfie #photobomb #alaska #usa

[andyrogan-blog]

a young family waiting for their fisherman father to return home from a night out fishing. Unexpected adventures can be the best.. Like when the captain of our boat in Komodo National Park decides to change the schedule because his son was ill (his son was fine in the end), and we end up in this little local village very much not on the tourist trail. A terrible nights sleep sharing company with A LOT of cockroaches, and got woken up very early by the call to prayer/Baang/Adhan (which was beautiful) but what an adventure; the snorkelling in the area the best I've ever done; the photos I took there amongst my favourite I've ever taken. Take. November 2014 #indonesia #komodo #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #instatravel #southeastasia #people #sunrise #canon60d #28135mm #ocean #water

[andyrogan-blog]

Whale hello there. Is what this humpback whale was saying to us. Actually it almost certainly wasn't, it almost certainly was communicating with a member/members of its own species. A recently published paper by a group of researchers I had the pleasure of working with in Australia, led by @ailbhesk ,suggests that a primary function of breaching and other 'surface active' behaviours such as pec-slapping (what this animal was doing) is communication. Pec-slapping is when a whale literally slaps the surface of the water with its pectoral fins. Photo taken during Ocean Alliance's SnotBot Expedition to south-east Alaska, August 2016. SnotBot is a program in which we are collecting whale 'blow' using a drone, along with a wide variety of other independently valuable data forms. #snotbot @oceanalliance #whale #humpbackwhale #marine #ocean #sea #water #wild #wildlifephotography #nature #naturepic #smile #happy #canon60d #70200mm #conservation #environment #fortheoceans #marineconservation #alaska #usa #djiinspire1

[andyrogan-blog]

Photo of two humpback whales taken in Frederick Sound, Alaska; during the third SnotBot Expedition in August 2016. I wanted to start writing little facts relevant to the subject in my photos in my posts. As much as I am having a good morning, as I am heading to Miami for Christmas to see my mum and brothers, none of whom I get to see as much as I would like, I'm not feeling terribly inspired to think of a fascinating whale fact. How about a story! These two animals were bubble-net feeding. This is a behaviour when the animal swims down a certain depth and then starts swimming in circles whilst blowing out bubbles. The bubbles create a net which corral the whales prey (in this case, herring) and then the whale comes straight up through the middle of the net with its enormous mouth open. The scientists who study the Alaska/West coast North America population like to think that their whales are the only ones that do this behaviour. The scientists on the east coast of North America get annoyed at this. Which is pretty funny. The whales on the east coast do bubble-net feed, often in spectacular fashion. But I hope the west coast scientists keep saying that the east coast whales don't do this, because it's annoys the east coast scientists so much. That is my story. Now I'm going to write some hashtags so that more people like my photos. #whale #whales #ocean #oceans #sea #water #marine #marinemammal #marinemammalresearch #humpbackwhales #wild #wildlife #wildlifephotography #nature #naturepic #picoftheday #smile #happy #oceanalliance @oceanalliance #canon #canon60d #70200mm #conservation #environment #fortheoceans #office #sunset #ebc #exhaledbreathcondensate #SnotBot #drone #dji