Abstract
FROM the outset of its investigations, the Discovery Committee has considered whale marking to be a method of considerable importance in approaching many of the problems to be solved in a study of the life-history of whales. It was, however, found difficult to design an efficient mark, and it was not until 1932 that a suitable form was produced. The mark then adopted consists of a stainless steel tube fired at the whale by means of a 12-bore gun; it is designed to penetrate the blubber and to remain embedded until the whale is captured and dismembered by the whalers. This form of mark was given a trial during the whaling season of 1932–33 and the results forthcoming during the ensuing year were so encouraging that an extensive programme of whale marking was planned and carried out during 1934–35 and the three following seasons.
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RAYNER, G. Preliminary Results of the Marking of Whales by the Discovery Committee. Nature 144, 999–1002 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144999a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144999a0