Creating accurate 3D models of marine mammals is valuable for assessment
of body condition, computational fluids dynamics models of locomotion,
and for education. However, the methods for creating 3D models are not
well-developed. We used photography and video to create 3D
photogrammetry models of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). We
accessed one live adult female (155.5 cm total length), and two dead
animals, one juvenile (110 cm total length) and one calf (88 cm total
length). We accessed the two dead individuals through a stranding
network in Germany, and the live individual through the Fjord and Baelt
research center in Denmark. For all porpoises, we used still photographs
from hand-held cameras, drone video, and synchronized GoPro videos to
create 3D photogrammetric models. We used Blender software, and other 3D
reconstruction software, to recreate the 3D body meshes, and confirmed
the accuracy of each of the 3D body meshes by comparing digital measures
on the 3D models to original measures taken on the specimens. We also
provide a colored, animated version of the live harbor porpoise for
educational purposes. These open-access 3D models can be used to develop
methods to study body morphometrics and condition, and to study
bioenergetics and locomotion costs.
