Gower dolphins: Why is their snot being tested?

Researchers are testing the snot of dolphins in a bid to monitor the pod's health.

DNA from the mammals is collected with a pole off a boat to gather dolphin "blow" after the dolphins have risen to the surface.

"When an infected person sneezes, lung vapour (i.e. snot) can be projected quite a distance before snot hitchhikers (i.e. viruses and bacteria) take up home in another host," said Dr Chloe Robinson, who helped develop the method at Swansea University.

"A similar thing occurs in cetaceans.

"When they come to the surface to breathe, they exhale air at a considerable force, thus firing snot up into the air."