The Whitehead Lab

As researchers, an important question to ask is “What is the impact of our research on the wildlife we study?”

In this recent paper, Hal, Christine and Ana put old ‘bad’ photo-identification photos to work to investigate this question, in the context of boat-based photo-identification of s***m whales. They found evidence of habituation, with individuals becoming more tolerant of the research vessel once they had encountered it more often.

You can find the open access paper at: doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0348681

Next for our lab member introductions is: Daisy !!

Daisy is a fourth year undergraduate Marine Biology student completing her honours with the Whitehead Lab. She’s currently studying northern bottlenose whales. For her project, Daisy is using drone imagery to explore whether differences in whale head (melon) shape and body length can be used to identify s*x in this elusive, deep-diving species. Reliably identifying the s*x of individuals is crucial in order to understand and monitor northern bottlenose whale population dynamics, which in turn is important for ongoing conservation efforts for this species.

When she’s not measuring whales, you’ll probably find her gazing wistfully at the ocean from the LSC’s windows or actually in the ocean any chance she can get!

Next up for our lab member introductions is: Kyra !!

Kyra is a 4th year undergraduate honours student completing her degree in Marine Biology. She is excited to be studying northern bottlenose whales with the Whitehead Lab. The goal of her research is to assess whether drone footage can be used to reliably identify individual northern bottlenose whales by matching them to the longitudinal dorsal fin catalog. She is also using aerial imagery to assess the prevalence of scar types visible across the body of the whales.

Outside of the lab she likes to get active by figure skating, hiking, running, or pickleballing and finds any other excuse to get outdoors and explore!

Important news today on the future of Marineland's belugas!

A response from Dr. Hal Whitehead:

"It is inhumane to keep whales and dolphins in captivity for display purposes. The belugas in Marineland have had horrible lives, and moving them to oceanaria in China would have prolonged their suffering and perhaps made it worse. I am pleased with Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Thompson's decision not to issue a permit for their export. The next step is to work out how to give these animals the best possible lives from here on."