Secrets of whales and dolphins revealed

Arguably more than anything else, photo-identification, or ���photo-ID,��� opened the door to our appreciation of whales and dolphins as individuals. WDC researchers and close collaborators have had a key role in the development and use of photo-ID, and it���s still the fundamental tool that we use in our work with North Atlantic right whales off Massachusetts, USA; Risso���s dolphins in Scotland; orcas in Kamchatka, Baird���s beaked whales in the Commander Islands, both in Russia; bottlenose dolphins in Scotland and in South Australia; and humpback whales in various studies in the Atlantic and the Pacific.

Recently I was asked by Hakai Magazine, a new online magazine, to write a story about a legendary conference that helped launch whale photo-ID as the primary tool of whale research, some 40 years ago, and ���where we have got to��� since then.

Where we have got to is that our studies of individual whales and whale families and pods have led now to a consideration of culture and the rights of whales ��� work that is central to what WDC is all about.

I loved researching and writing this story, and it forms part of the background for a new book I���m writing on what we���ve learned from field studies of whales and dolphins.

If you like the story, please share it, and we welcome your comments.

http://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-long/whales-through-new-lens
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Published on September 30, 2015 09:10
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