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Specially adapted drones successfully use a "tap and go" approach to apply monitoring tags to whales, speeding up the process and avoiding human interference

08.13.25 | PLOS

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Drone-based application of whale tags: A “tap-and-go” approach for scientific animal-borne investigations
Tagging method overview. A: Looking for whales. B: Launching the drone from the boat. C: Aligning the drone behind the whale prior to tag deployment. D: Tag deployment on the whale via “tap-and-go”. E: Drone return on the boat. F: Data recording on the whale. G: Tag retrieval. H: Data offload and tag reconditioning for the next deployment. Credit: Vogt et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Specially adapted drones successfully use a "tap and go" approach to apply monitoring tags to whales, speeding up the process and avoiding human interference

Article URL : http://plos.io/4meypZo

Article title: Drone-based application of whale tags: A “tap-and-go” approach for scientific animal-borne investigations

Author countries: U.S., Dominica, Canada

Funding: This study was financially supported by Project CETI ( https://www.projectceti.org ) via Dalio Philanthropies ( https://www.daliophilanthropies.org ), OceanX ( https://oceanx.org ), Sea Grape Foundation ( http://www.seagrapefoundation.org ), Virgin Unite ( https://unite.virgin.com ) and Rosamund Zander/Hansjorg Wyss in the form of grants received by DFG, SG and RW through The Audacious Project: a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED ( https://www.audaciousproject.org ). This study was also financially supported by the National Geographic Society ( https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society ) in the form of a grant (NGS-72337T-20) received by DFG, SG and RW. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

PLOS One

10.1371/journal.pone.0328037

Drone-based application of whale tags: A “tap-and-go” approach for scientific animal-borne investigations

13-Aug-2025

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Additional Media

In-field deployment. Credit: Vogt et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Keywords

Animals Life Sciences Mammals Marine Biology Oceanography Organismal Biology Vertebrates Whales

Article Information

Journal
PLOS One
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0328037
Article Publication Date
2025-08-13
Article Title
Drone-based application of whale tags: A “tap-and-go” approach for scientific animal-borne investigations
COI Statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Contact Information

Hanna Abdallah
PLOS
onepress@plos.org

How to Cite This Article

APA:
PLOS. (2025, August 13). Specially adapted drones successfully use a "tap and go" approach to apply monitoring tags to whales, speeding up the process and avoiding human interference. Brightsurf News. https://www.brightsurf.com/news/LRDEMQ58/specially-adapted-drones-successfully-use-a-tap-and-go-approach-to-apply-monitoring-tags-to-whales-speeding-up-the-process-and-avoiding-human-interference.html
MLA:
"Specially adapted drones successfully use a "tap and go" approach to apply monitoring tags to whales, speeding up the process and avoiding human interference." Brightsurf News, Aug. 13 2025, https://www.brightsurf.com/news/LRDEMQ58/specially-adapted-drones-successfully-use-a-tap-and-go-approach-to-apply-monitoring-tags-to-whales-speeding-up-the-process-and-avoiding-human-interference.html.