1. W HALE P HOTO - I DENTIFICATION By: Amber Sheridan

2. W HEN I T ALL B EGAN … Whale photo-identification studies first began in the 1960s and 1970s. Black and white film. Evaluated negatives by magnifying them with microscopes. Matched them up. Helped to distinguish different individuals in a species.

3. W HAT IS W HALE P HOTO -I DENTIFICATION ? Photo Identification is a primary method for studying whales. “By photographing unique physical characteristics of the whale, such as dorsal fin shape and body coloration patterns, researchers are able to tell individuals apart within a population of a particular species.”(about.com)

4. Once a sighting record is established for an individual whale, researchers can study their movements, feeding patterns, migration, life span, age of maturity along with population estimates

5. H OW THEY GET THEIR NAMES …

7. H UMPBACK W HALES Diving without Fluking Photograph underwater lateral pigmentation shots. Distinct patterns

8. B OTTLE - N OSE D OLPHIN

9. B OTTLENOSE D OLPHIN

10. W HALE S HARK

12. N O F LUKE ? ~Silver~ *Venus*

13. W ORK C ITED www.utilawhalesharkresearch.com/faq.jsp http://www.whaleshark.org/ www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/pdf/NMMLDigital Photo Protocol.pdf www. whale research.org/humpback_researchmethods.htm marinelife.about.com/od/watchingand photography /a/ photoid.htm www.ncmaritime.org/Fin-board/ photo-id.html www.johnrgentile.com/ dolphins.htm