In a study published in the Journal of Thermal Biology, marine mammal specialists analysed more than 40,000 thermal images collected by drones to evaluate how accurately airborne thermal cameras can measure dolphin surface temperature and respiration rates. The team examined whether a drone flying above the animals can provide health indicators that match close-range reference measurements.
The research assessed drones equipped with thermal cameras to determine how reliably they record surface temperature and breathing rates when dolphins surface to breathe. These measurements provide insight into physiological state and can support long-term health monitoring in both managed care and wild populations.
"Monitoring the health of dolphins is important for assessing environmental impacts and supporting conservation, but because they spend most of their lives underwater traditional health checks often require capture, restraint or invasive probes, which can be logistically challenging and potentially stressful for the animals," says PhD candidate Charlie White, from the Cetacean Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution Lab (CEBEL) at Flinders University.
"At the optimal flight conditions - 10m to 15m directly overhead of a dolphin - we confirmed that the drone measurements were precise enough to detect biologically meaningful changes in surface temperature and respiration rate - two important indicators of physiological state and health."
To validate the method, the team worked with 14 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under human care at Queensland's Sea World. Drones were flown at a range of heights while researchers gathered close-range temperature readings, enabling direct comparison between thermal images and reference measurements.
"We found that the drone could reliably measure the heat coming from the dolphins' blowholes, body surfaces and dorsal fins, as well as accurately count their respiration rate," says Ms White, from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University.
Senior author Associate Professor Guido Parra says the study shows that drone-based infrared thermography is a practical tool for wildlife health assessment. "Our findings show that drone-based infrared thermography can accurately and reliably estimate dolphin vital signs under controlled conditions," says Associate Professor Parra.
"With continued refinement and testing under a wider range of wild conditions, the approach has the potential to support safer and less intrusive health monitoring of marine mammals in both managed care and the wild."
The article, 'Using drone-based infrared thermography for monitoring vital signs in dolphins' (2026), by Charlie White, Andrew P Colefax (Sci-Eye and Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation) and Guido J Parra has been published in the Journal of Thermal Biology. The paper reports the validation of drone-based thermal imaging as a means to detect changes in dolphin surface temperature and respiration that are relevant to health assessment.
Research Report: Using drone-based infrared thermography for monitoring vital signs in dolphins
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