Latest news with #humpbackwhale
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Decoding the fingerprint of a humpback whale
In Antarctic waters, glaciers calve like distant thunder and the air stings with salt and cold. It is in these waters that marine mammal ecologist Ari Friedlaender shuts off the inflatable boat's engine and waits. This is the edge of the world—remote, hostile, and stunningly alive. Beneath the hull, the dark sea churns with wonder abound. A humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) emerges, slow, deliberate, and gentle in its curious demeanor, casting a ripple across the surface. Then another shadow glides below. One rolls sideways to peer up, one spyhops, another nudges the rubber boat as if asking a question.'You feel alien out there,' Friedlaender tells Popular Science. 'And yet, the whale chooses you and interacts with you as a curious individual. It gives you its attention, and that kind of moment is just the most compelling.'In the last two decades, humpback whales in Antarctic waters have staged one of the most remarkable recoveries since the end of commercial whaling. 'We started seeing them again—first almost none, then a few, then many,' Ted Cheeseman, a marine ecologist and co-founder of the whale tracking platform Happywhale, tells Popular Science. 'But we didn't know who we were seeing. We wanted to know more than just that whales were coming back. We wanted to know which whales.' [ Related: Humpback whales use bubble-nets as 'tools'. ] Unlike critically endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) or Rice's whale (Balaenoptera ricei), humpbacks have shown a striking degree of behavioral flexibility and resilience in a rapidly changing ocean. But their future is still uncertain: ship strikes, warming waters, and shifting food webs continue to pose serious began a transformative shift in whale science, driven by photography, artificial intelligence, public participation, and lab research–and it all starts with the fluke. The story flukes tell To the casual observer or the untrained eye, the emergence of a whale's tail may just be an exciting and fleeting splash of black and white. But to researchers and other whale lovers across the globe, that exhilarating splash holds a unique story and is as idiosyncratic as a human fingerprint. The shape of the trailing edge, pigmentation patterns, rake marks from orca attacks, scars from fishing gear, and barnacle clusters all combine to tell the narrative of an individual whale's life, as well as how to identify that humpback.'Flukes as a primary piece of data are incredibly valuable,' Friedlaender explains. 'They help us trace migration routes, understand site fidelity, and even track how changes in the environment impact individual behavior over time.' If you're lucky enough to observe a whale fluke arcing above the waterline, try taking a closer look beyond the marvel of it. Is the edge smooth or torn? Are there specks, scars, or barnacles dotting one side more than the other? Do the pigmentation patterns differ from other fluke's that you've spotted? Like a fingerprint, these ever-so-slight irregularities and subtle signatures mark a whale's identity, and can give you some insight into their life story. This citizen science and fluke analysis is crucial, because whales are famously hard to study. As Cheeseman puts it, 'We see one percent of a whale for one percent of its life.' Most of what whales do—feed, rest, nurse, socialize—happens deep below the surface, and far from view. That disconnect, he says, contributes to a larger issue: a failure to relate.'When we look out at the horizon,' he says, 'we're removed from what's really happening under the waves.' Whales need you–to take photos Happywhale aims to change that by making individual whales visible, trackable, and, most of all, relatable. Anyone—tourists, sailors, researchers—can upload a fluke photo to the platform. AI, trained on thousands of images, scans each photo and compares it to over 112,000 known whales in the database. 'The algorithm reads features we might miss,' Cheeseman says. 'Even if a scar disappears, or pigmentation changes over time, the trailing edge often stays consistent from nearly birth. The computer can pick up on that and match individuals with more accuracy than the human eye.'Still, every match is verified by a human—preserving both the integrity of the data and the intimacy of the process. 'The goal is to keep people at the center of the science,' Cheeseman says. 'We want people to feel close to it.'And they do. When someone uploads a photo and later receives a notification that 'their whale' has been seen thousands of miles away, something shifts. 'It lights something up inside people,' he says. 'They go from being a bystander to being part of a story.' That story is often one of resilience in a rapidly changing ocean. Many whales carry visible signs of survival—scars from boat strikes, or entanglement wounds that wrap around the tail like old rope. In 2016, there were 71 documented whale entanglements off the US West Coast, but Cheeseman estimates that's just 10% of what actually occurred.'Imagine driving down a road and seeing a deer caught in a barbed wire fence,' he says. 'Most people would stop, call someone, and maybe even risk yourself to help free it. But with whales, it's out of sight, so it's out of mind, and since we don't know about it, we don't care, and we don't act.'The work Friedlaender and Cheeseman are doing—alongside the growing community of citizen scientists—aims to help close that gap. And in a time when climate change, noise pollution, and industrial fishing continue to erode ocean health, proximity matters. 'We've urbanized the ocean,' Cheeseman says. 'We build roads in it—shipping lanes—and infrastructure like ports and offshore platforms. We ask so much of it. But we don't think of it as part of our shared space.'That's beginning to change, and in part, it's because of whales. Not just whales as a species, but whales as whale research looked at the species as a whole, Friedlander notes, but fluke matching has transformed this approach by allowing scientists to study individual whales in much finer detail. This method opens up opportunities to investigate how specific factors—such as food supply, noise pollution, or environmental shifts—affect particular whales and various demographic groups differently.'What has really been valuable,' he continues, 'is being able to say, 'This is a fluke of an individual whale with a long sighting history—41 years in one case.' When you want to study processes that happen over an animal's lifetime, that contextual detail becomes crucial.' This rich, individual-level perspective informs everything from behavioral studies to toxicology research, facilitating new ways in understanding these ocean giants in unprecedented depth. 'That personal connection leads to a desire for protection' Friedlaender's research focuses on detailed snapshots of individual whales using suction cup tags that collect incredibly fine-resolution data. These tags reveal intimate details about how a whale moves, dives, and feeds—showing, for example, how it manages to engulf what's essentially a swimming pool's worth of water in a single mouthful to fuel its massive energy highlights how this complementary blending of citizen science and traditional scientific methods brings research from being something 'out there' to something closer and more accessible.'By combining fine-scale data from suction cup tags with long-term sighting records collected by everyday people through Happywhale, we create a more holistic view of humpback whales—connecting detailed individual behaviors to broader lifetime patterns and population trends.' [ Related: Whale pee moves vital nutrients thousands of miles. ]And it all stirs something deeper. 'We are wired to care about individuals more than abstract concepts,' Cheeseman continues. 'And that personal connection is what leads to a desire for protection.'Friedlaender and Cheeseman will soon return to Antarctica to continue their research in one of the planet's most ecologically vital and least accessible regions. Their work is supported through a partnership between the Friedlaender Lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Quark Expeditions, which facilitates science-based voyages in the Southern Ocean. In these former whaling grounds, the team will deepen their data on humpback behavior and migration—bringing AI, photo ID, and public participation into one of the last truly wild whale at a time, the ocean is becoming less anonymous. And with every scar and splash recorded, the researchers see that a clearer picture of this hidden world begins to emerge, not just in the minds of scientists, but in the hearts of the people observing, and participating, from ashore. Solve the daily Crossword
The Independent
6 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Humpback whale in Sydney Harbour treats commuters to a surprise
Watch the remarkable moment that a humpback whale is spotted in Sydney Harbour on Wednesday (16 July). Eyewitness footage taken onboard a passing ferry shows the mammal poking above the waters at Circular Quay – Sydney's central ferry terminal - before diving back down. The appearance of the whale resulted in ferries having to be temporarily paused during the morning commute on advice of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). Crews from the NPWS guarded the animal as it swam freely in the harbour until it left the area a few hours later, a NPWS spokesperson said.
The Guardian
7 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Humpback whale that swam to Circular Quay, delighting ferry passengers, has left Sydney Harbour
A young humpback whale who wandered from its usual migratory route right up to Sydney's Harbour Bridge has left the harbour. The sub-adult whale had left the harbour, with no sign of it on Thursday morning, a government source told Guardian Australia. The whale delighted onlookers and experts after it was first spotted swimming at Circular Quay on Wednesday morning before moving east on what experts tracking the mammal called its 'full harbour experience'. Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a whale expert on board a New South Wales Maritime boat on Wednesday, confirmed the whale was 'not in distress, quite the opposite'. It appeared to be inquisitive and relaxed, visiting various harbour-side locations, she said. The whale's appearance was a 'reminder that Sydney Harbour is very wild'. It was last seen at Rose Bay on Wednesday evening, Pirotta said on Thursday. The founder of citizen science project Wild Sydney Harbour, which works with organisations including the NSW government, said ordinary people who spotted the whale throughout the day helped experts know where it was. The process was 'citizen science at its very best'. There have been no sightings of the whale on Thursday to her knowledge, Pirotta said. Pirotta said while the whale may have left the harbour, she cautioned it could resurface. 'It was just all over the place [on Wednesday]. So just when you think that it's probably had enough, maybe it hasn't, and maybe it could pop up where we least expect it.' She encouraged anyone to report sightings to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'Because it was sometimes conspicuous and sometimes inconspicuous, it wouldn't surprise me if it's still in the harbour, but surely by now, it must have done so much exploring,' Pirotta said. The Port Authority of NSW also had cameras monitoring the harbour and they were an 'incredibly important part of yesterday's mission,' the whale expert said on Thursday. Humpback whales usually travel the 'humpback highway' which runs up and down Australia's east coast. It is not unusual for them to briefly leave it, with four humpbacks having been seen in the harbour this migratory season. But Pirotta said this week's visitor was unusually explorative, coming as far as the harbour bridge.
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Humpback whale brings ferries to a halt in Sydney Harbour
Ferry services were suspended after a humpback whale was spotted by commuters on a Sydney Harbour near Fort Denison about 8am on Wednesday. It swam to Circular Quay – the city's central ferry terminal – before moving east towards the defence base of Garden Island then to Watsons Bay and north to Balmoral Bay. Maritime authorities were called on to escort the whale out to sea and safety 'Inquisitive, relaxed' humpback whale swimming in Sydney Harbour delays ferries and boats
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘Inquisitive, relaxed' humpback whale swimming in Sydney Harbour delays ferries and boats
An 'inquisitive' humpback whale that wandered from its usual migratory route and into the centre of Sydney Harbour is causing 'navigational challenges' for ferries and vessels as its tour of the world-famous harbour continues. The sub-adult whale was first spotted by commuters on a harbour ferry service near Fort Denison at about 8am. It swam to Circular Quay – Sydney's central ferry terminal - before moving east towards the defence base of Garden Island then to Watsons Bay and north to Balmoral Bay. Speaking from a New South Wales Maritime boat shadowing the creature, whale expert Dr Vanessa Pirotta said it was 'not every day a whale takes a detour and hangs out in Watsons Bay'. Its harbour trip was posing a 'navigational challenge' for ferries and vessels, she said. 'NSW Maritime and NSW National Parks and Wildlife are literally escorting a school bus-sized mammal out of the harbour. It's so easy for vessels to strike whales,' she said. 'They do things when you least expect it – [we're] making sure it has space and is escorted out of the harbour, because this one is very inquisitive.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email While it's not unusual for a whale to briefly leave the 'humpback highway' running up and down Australia's east coast – four humpbacks have been seen in the harbour this migratory season, she said – it is 'crazy' for the creatures to be as inquisitive and explorative as the whale seen today. 'Most will hang out around Manly and then work out it's not in the right place and swim away, but this one is having the full harbour experience,' she said. There is a whale and her calf in Circukar Quay! (She delayed my ferry) 'It's the most inquisitive whale. It's thin, but from its behaviour, it's very relaxed.' In Balmoral Bay on Sydney's north shore, the whale was on Wednesday afternoon seen swimming close to a paddle boarder with onlookers watching from the beach. 'This whale continues to surprise me. It's just hanging out and in such shallow water – I'd expect this from a southern right whale, not a humpback whale.' Pirotta said the whale's condition – which she described as 'OK' – suggested it was migrating south and that it might have entered the harbour overnight. Pirotta said the Wild Sydney Harbour project had 'delivered' after commuters on the harbour first spotted the whale. One social media user said the whale had delayed their ferry on Wednesday morning. She said the sighting was a chance to gather data and photos of the creature, adding that every time she watches whales, she learns 'so much more about them'.
