Whale Flukes

A Whale fluke is the tail fin. It is flat and can be used to identify the whale. Flukes are used to i.d. Whales because they act as a fingerprint for the whale. If there is a a scar the whale obtains as a child it will grow with the whale and can later be identified as a mature adult even from across the world. Scientists need this data to understand whale habits, migration, and individual characteristics. The most difficult part of the lab today was identifying the flukes on a black and white small scale picture. If you were to change anything in the lab it would just be the quality of the photos. And maybe a way for us to check our identifications without you having to run all over the room.