A fluke discovery

Against the pin-drop silence of the Antarctic landscape – as you bob gently on the water, engine off – a humpback whale glides alongside the boat and takes a breath. “This blow becomes the loudest thing you've ever heard, right there in that silence,” says Ted Cheeseman. “It's incomparable. It's really beautiful".

Cheeseman, the co-founder of Happywhale, has had countless wonderful whale watching encounters. He moved into marine conservation after working in eco-tourism for 30 years because he realised that people’s holiday photos not only capture moments they will treasure forever. They can also contribute to scientific discovery.

A humpback whale's tail fluke is as unique as a fingerprint. “Any scarring, any pigmentation, any shape (on the underside of the tail) can be used to identify an individual whale". Cheeseman explains. The trailing edge of the fluke, with “all those nicks and notches and natural features,” also differs from whale to whale, he says.

Although they focus on humpbacks, Happywhale is interested in all whale species. Their technology can identify Grey whales (from the shape of their back) as well as orca and blue whales (from their dorsal fins), leopard seals and Weddell seals. Most ships have a naturalist on board who can advise you on what to look for when photographing each species.

These visual clues can be used to identify individual animals that scientists, wildlife guides and members of the public have taken photos of. But there's more to it than just working out who's who. “That's lovely – we can identify who it is. But where's the science in that?” says Cheeseman. Using this information to understand new things about our world is where it gets really interesting.

Humpback whales travel thousands of miles each year between their feeding grounds, in cold waters where there is more food, and their tropical breeding grounds. But, although they cover vast distances, they usually stick to similar routes for their entire lifetime. “They were born in one place, mom showed them where to go to feed and they repeat that for the rest of their lives,” he says.

But, just like humans, some whales end up in unexpected places. “Many of us live our whole lives in the country we were born in – even the same town,” says Cheeseman. “Or maybe we leave once for a holiday to Greece or Antarctica, but we come back and live in the same place, whereas some portion of folks will emigrate somewhere and change entirely.” By tracking whales in a non-invasive way, through these photos of their fluke, we can learn more about their movements around the world.

When someone submits a photo to Happywhale, the organisation uses AI-based image recognition to analyse the picture. “Basically, it turns that visual image into a bunch of math,” Cheeseman says.

By comparing the features from the photo to other whales in the database – they currently have 109,000 humpbacks, not to mention other species – it presents the best possible match as well as some back-up options.

These suggestions are checked by data managers who confirm whether there is a match. Sometimes it’s obvious right away but not always; for example, if the image is of low quality or the whale was only previously photographed once as a baby and its fluke has since changed (“they don’t change much after one or two years,” Cheeseman says).

Once it’s been confirmed whether this is a new or existing whale, the person who submitted the photo gets an update. The first notification might say something like “Hey, your whale’s been recorded and it matches to whale number 12345, or a whale called Frosty,” says Cheeseman. “Or: your whale’s confirmed as new and we're tracking it going forward".

They get a link to all the information Happywhale has about that individual and can even adopt and name a whale to support conservation efforts. Over time, they are also alerted if that same whale is seen again – although some might have quite a wait. The longest gap between sightings on the database is nearly 45 years!

For those whose whale is spotted again, getting a notification that the individual you saw in Antarctica has just been spotted in Costa Rica six months later “makes science much more personal and engaging and real,” he says.

Happywhale data from citizen scientists has helped researchers track the first recorded movement of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) between the Antarctic Peninsula and the east coast of Australia. Another paper confirmed the first documented round‐trip humpback migration between Iceland and the Turks and Caicos Islands. And their data even saw an adult male from Colombia pop up in Tanzania. “So not just South America to Africa, but essentially the wrong side of South America to the wrong side of Africa,” he says.

While seeing surprisingly long migrations is interesting, Cheeseman focuses on how we can use this knowledge to benefit animals and ecosystems. “What I find really valuable is where we've taken it further to really understand something about populations that we weren't able to do (before)", he says.

One example is the population model he created with colleagues, as part of his PhD, to estimate the abundance of North Pacific humpback whales across the entire ocean. They expected to see populations recover to pre-whaling levels but were surprised by the results.

An intense three-year marine heatwave (2014–2016) drastically changed the course of this recovery. “One third of Hawaii's humpback whale population suffered and died because of this and the whole of the North Pacific population declined by about 20 percent,” he says.

This teaches us how resilient whales can be – and how fragile. “Post-whaling, they didn't just go extinct,” says Cheeseman. “They began to recover. But they're also quite sensitive to changes in the health of the oceans at large".

This isn’t just about creating a comprehensive list of every individual whale in the ocean. As our planet changes in the face of global warming, pollution and human development, whales can help us understand what’s happening in our oceans. “We can use these animals as indicators of health,” he says. “We’re actually actively seeking to better understand so we can better protect and manage our presence in Antarctica and in every ocean".

That’s why it’s important that this technology also enables researchers around the world to connect with one another and collaborate so they can compare data and find patterns.

For people who want to help be sending in photos from their next cruise, what tips does he have? “Mobile devices really just don't work very well,” says Cheeseman. He recommends a “decent camera” with a 100–400-millimetre zoom. It’s “great from the ship, great from the zodiac,” he says.

Setting your camera’s time, date and GPS (if you can) correctly is helpful. “We can read that data straight from the image,” he says. Sharing additional information about which company you were travelling with and anything you observed (such as whether you saw a mother with her calf) also gives the scientists valuable information.

Importantly, never disturb an animal in the name of science, says Cheeseman: “Always operate with respect and follow good protocols for responsible whale watching".

That’s the best recipe for an incredible encounter with these intelligent, sentient beings, he says: “It’s not altogether rare that an animal will become curious about a boat if you're operating slowly and respectfully".

When this story was published, we (ExplorEarth) sent it to Ted at Happywhale to check that he was happy with the details. We had not expected that he would identify the whale in our last picture from its fluke and provide us with its dedicated webpage and sightings since 2007. The photo had originally been sent to us by our partner Albatros Expeditions. 

As a perfect compliment to the story, we can now see that this humpback (Happywhale ID- — BGT-0115) is now back in Antarctica, and its migratory history, completed by citizen scientists using Happywhale's technology, can be seen and even followed by visiting the link in the fact box below.