Humpback whales don’t have fingers, but did you know they have fingerprints?
I’m Scott Roberge with the Petersburg Marine Mammal Center.
Historical studies of whales relied on data collected from dead whales from commercial whaling. For example, ear plugs collected during commercial whaling helped researchers determine that many humpback whales appear to live into their sixties, and that the oldest known humpback was 96 years-old.
Several decades ago, scientists noticed that they could identify individual whales by natural markings on the underside of the flukes. These unique black and white patterns are as individual as human fingerprints. Flukes vary widely from all white to all black. Nicks and scars and shapes along the edges of the flukes also aid in identification. So now researchers use non-lethal photographs of flukes to identify individuals, and they have developed large regional identification catalogs containing hundreds of whale fluke images.
By using these visual identification techniques, scientists have documented and monitored calves from their first year of life, and they know now more information than just age. They’ve learned the full life histories of some whales frequenting Alaska’s summer feeding grounds. Some of the oldest identified calves are now over 40 years old and have calves of their own!
In addition to using fluke identification to determine age and individual histories of whales, researchers also learn about social bonds, survival rates, movements and other vital statistics that help shed light on things like migration and population sizes.
Fluke photos have proven that most of Alaska’s whales migrate to Hawaii. Furthermore, fluke IDs confirm that after a calf separates from its mother, it usually returns to the feeding area where its mother brought it in its first year. They also show that humpbacks rarely move between Prince William Sound and Southeast Alaska feeding regions.
So the next time you see a whale, take a look at the underside of the fluke… it may just be a whale tail that can tell the whale’s life tale.
