SCIENCE LAB SCHEMES : LONG-LIVED WHALE

 

Old Timer's journey wasn't over. Just nearer the tailend : A humpback whale's tails is as unique as a fingerprint.

The lobes, or flukes, at the end of the tail have scalloped edges that vary from whale to whale; the undersides feature distinct black-and-white patterns that mark a whale for life.

When Adam A. Pack, a researcher at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, was photographing whales in Alaska's Frederick Sound in July, he recognized the flukes of an old friend.

Emphasis on old. The tail - mostly black, with white speckles near the edge - belongs to a whale named Old Timer.

First spotted in 1972, Old Timer, is now a male of at least 53 years, making him ''the oldest known humpback whale in the world,'' said Dr. Pack, who is also the cofounder and president of the Dolphin Institute.

Humpback populations, once severely depleted by commercial whaling, have rebounded in recent decades. But the animals are threatened by ship strikes, entanglements in fishing gear and climate change.

And Dr. Pack had worried about Old Timer : The last time he had seen the whale, in 2015, was in the middle of a record-breaking, yearslong heat wave. Scores of seabirds and marine mammals, including humpback whales, died.

But after nine years, he saw with his own eyes that Old Timer had survived. 

'' It was heartwarming, because I realized that it wasn't just the old whales who were perishing,'' Dr. Pack said. '' Some of them were resilient.''

Historically, tracking the whereabouts of the whales has been done by scientists using their own eyes to compare new fluke photos with old ones.

But future studies are expected to be accelerated by the use of artificial intelligence. And Dr.Pack hopes it will help him learn how, and why, some whales can withstand tough conditions. [ Emily Anthes ]