BBC Wildlife - UK (2019-12)

76 BBC Wildlife December 2019

Thedifferencescanoftenbequitesubtle,soeach

animalis photographedtoconfirmitsidentityand

toprovidea permanentrecordofitsexistence.This

techniqueis knownas‘photo-identification’,or‘photo-

ID’,andhasdramaticallyextendedourknowledge

ofwildcetaceansinrecentyears.It is alsoanarea

ofresearchinwhichamateurwhalewatcherscan

participate; it can be expensive, and time-consuming

Oppositepage,top

tobottom:thedive

sequenceofa sperm

whale;a seiwhale

motherandcalf;the

colossalbluewhalecan

producea blowcolumn

of at least 12m high.

Above:individual

southernrightwhales

canbeidentifiedby

theiruniquepatterns

ofraisedcallosities.

Below:humpback

whaleflipperscanbe

upto5mlongandvary

incolorationacross

dierent populations.

whaleresearchersstillstudywhalesin
thetraditionalsense,bysimplywatching
themthroughbinoculars– it willalwaysbe
importanttogatherbasicsightingsdata,
suchasdate,time,location,groupsize,
behaviourandsoon.But,at thesametime,
theyfrequentlyenlistthehelpofstate-of-the-
artequipmentandthekindofenterprising
andvisionaryresearchtechniques that would
makeNASAproud.

Spotthedifference
Themodernwhaleresearcher’sarmoury
consistsofa varietyofresearchtechniques,
beginningwithsomethingknownasphoto-
identification.Biologistshavebeenusing
uniqueandobviousnaturalmarkingsto
identifyindividualanimalsfora longtime.
JaneGoodallusedfacialpatternstorecognise
allthechimpanzeesinherclassicstudyin
GombeNationalPark,Tanzania,forexample.
It is aninvaluablewayoftrackingassociations
withotheranimalsoverperiodsofdays,
weeks,monthsorevenyears.And,giventime,
it enablesresearchersto measureeverything
fromcalvingintervalsto lifeexpectancy.
Whaleanddolphinbiologistsareno
exception.Somespecieshaveeasily
recognisablenaturalmarkingsthatare
visibleabovethesurfaceandmakefield
identificationrelativelysimple.Individual
humpbackwhalesarerecognisedbythe
uniqueblackandwhitemarkingsonthe
undersidesoftheirtails,forinstance,
whilerightwhaleshaveraisedpatchesof
roughenedskin,calledcallosities,which
form distinctive patterns on their heads.

Whaleresearchersfrequently

usethekindofenterprising

andvisionarytechniquesthat

would make NASA proud.