image: A drone collects droplets of whale breath on a mounted petri dish.
Credit: Maya Sears, NOAA | NMFS ESA Permit #21348
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has won the Academia & Research category at the inaugural 2026 Global Drone Operations Awards, hosted by SPH Engineering. The award recognizes senior scientist James Sheppard and the team for developing innovative research methods to study the highly endangered Southern Resident killer whale population.
This drone work is part of ongoing research in the Salish Sea in collaboration with SeaDoc Society and NOAA. With as few as 75 Southern Resident killer whales remaining, non-invasive health monitoring is crucial to understanding their population and the threats they face.
Operating from research vessels, researchers combine thermal imaging with drone-mounted breath sampling to study the whales without physical contact. Researchers are able to collect thermal measurements and microbiological and molecular data from breath samples that are then used to develop individual health profiles, establishing a baseline for monitoring the endangered population over time.
Drone footage of these killer whales can be found HERE (credit: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance).