WHALE TAILS
Over the past five years, Kimberley Whale Watching has recorded tail fluke imges of Kimberley Humpback whales to add to a database designed by Wheelock College in Boston, Mass. These photographs allow researchers to monitor the movement, health and behaviour of individual humpbacks as they migrate up and down the Western Australian coast.
The first North Atlantic Humpback whale tail fluke catalogue was published in 1976 by Allied Whale. Individual humpbacks are identified by the black and white pigmentation patterns and scars on the underside of the flukes of their tails, and by the patterns on the tail's trailing edge, the distinctive scalloped part on the outside of the flukes. As Humpbacks dive they raise their tail flukes above the water's surface, affording us the opportunity to photograph the markings on the underside, or ventral surface, to add to the database.
The first North Atlantic Humpback whale tail fluke catalogue was published in 1976 by Allied Whale. Individual humpbacks are identified by the black and white pigmentation patterns and scars on the underside of the flukes of their tails, and by the patterns on the tail's trailing edge, the distinctive scalloped part on the outside of the flukes. As Humpbacks dive they raise their tail flukes above the water's surface, affording us the opportunity to photograph the markings on the underside, or ventral surface, to add to the database.
WHALE TAIL CATALOGUE
