CITIZEN SCIENCE
A WHALE OF A TALE
WITH A HAPPY ENDING
Eagle-eyed Hurtigruten Expeditions’ guests are helping marine scientists identify individual whales as part of a global project to protect these magnificent mammals.
WORDS PETER SIMS
CITIZEN SCIENCE
A WHALE OF A TALE
WITH A HAPPY ENDING
Eagle-eyed Hurtigruten Expeditions’ guests are helping marine scientists identify individual whales as part of a global project to protect these magnificent mammals.
WORDS PETER SIMS
A whale's tail fin is known as a 'fluke'.
To witness whales thriving in their natural habitats is a profound and unforgettable experience. Seeing one of these ocean giants emerge gracefully from the water and arc its tail skyward before disappearing into the depths is one of nature’s most thrilling spectacles.
Whales use their fluke to launch themselves out of the water.
And while such sightings are deeply satisfying in themselves, a marine conservation project called Happywhale is giving Hurtigruten Expeditions guests the opportunity to help ensure the endangered species’ continued survival. Guests simply upload their whale photos or videos to the Happywhale website, which searches through its extensive database of tail flukes (the underside of the whale’s tail) to identify each individual.
Tail flukes are as unique to whales as fingerprints are to humans.
Happywhale has an extensive database of whale flukes.
Tail flukes are as unique to whales as fingerprints are to humans, so if the whale has been spotted previously, Happywhale is able to not only identify it, but provide details about when it was last spotted and its migration pattern. The time and location of the latest sighting is then added to the global database and the spotter can choose to receive updates on their whale’s travels around the world.
Hurtigruten Guest & Crew Logged Whale Sightings
Hover on the camera icons to see how many sightings have been made in that area by Hurtigruten guests and crew.
Marine conservation
Happywhale founder Ted Cheeseman grew up spotting whales in Monterey Bay, California. As an adult, he spent years working within the ecology-based wildlife safari sector, much of it based in Antarctica. In 2015, Ted’s love of marine conservation led him, with the help of a team of like-minded individuals, to begin investigating ways to better protect these endangered mammals and their ocean environment with the support of citizen scientists. The pilot project involved the creation of an extensive database of photos of tail flukes, and the use of automated image recognition software that could identify and add subsequent sightings of the tails.
Hurtigruten guest contributions to date
Voyages
Encounters
Identified
Individuals
Species
*Numbers correct at time of publication.
The Hurtigruten Group provided more than AU$14,000 to support Happywhale’s development.
Hurtigruten guests are enthusiastic whale spotters.
Pilot project
The pilot was a great success and once Happywhale’s database topped 68,000 known individual animals, the team set its sights on making the project accessible to citizen scientists around the world. The Hurtigruten Group provided more than AU$14,000 to support Happywhale’s development of a more powerful version of its WhaleID digital tool.
You can track "your" whale's movements via the website.
Guests and crew can upload their whale images.
The next generation application runs powerful algorithms that use artificial intelligence to aid recognition. It includes a mobile app and web portal so guests and marine mammal experts can immediately identify and access the history of humpback and other whales they encounter.
Citizen scientists having fun whilst aiding research.
Success story
Happywhale’s powerful WhaleID tool is turning ecotourists into citizen scientists who are able to share and contribute to conservation science in a fun and rewarding way.