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DOING RIGHT BY RIGHT WHALES
by Lauren Wigod
MORE THAN 50 YEARS AGO, VICTORIA "VICKY" ROWNTREE, RESEARCH PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, WAS INVITED BY THE ANIMAL BEHAVIORIST ROGER PAYNE TO VISIT HIS THENNEW RIGHT-WHALE RESEARCH PROJECT AT PENÍNSULA VALDÉS (PV) IN PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA.
Payne, who died earlier this year at age 88, was already famous for discovering (together with his wife Katy Payne) the “Songs of the Humpback Whale”—probably the most famous nature album in history. A few years later Rowntree joined the right-whale project as a full-time researcher and began a long career during which she played leading roles in shaping and then sustaining, what has become the most important study of its kind.
Giant Sea Creatures
When the PV right whale project began, little was known about the giant sea creatures which average 43 to 56 feet in length and weigh up to 176,000 pounds. Inspired by the British ethologist Jane Goodall and other researchers who were closely observing animals in the wild, Payne realized that tracking the lives of individual whales, especially reproducing females in their natural habitat for long periods of time, was likely key to understanding their reproduction, ecology and demographics.
Each year, in the months of July through October, southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) arrive at bays on the shores of PV to calve and raise their young in the safety of the shallow waters. “Roger realized that repeated photo-identification of individual whales would allow the population size and birth intervals and other important demographic parameters to be estimated,” says U Emeritus Professor of Biology Jon Seger, Rowntree’s husband and frequent research collaborator.
What Rowntree and her colleagues look for are distinctive patterns in the whale’s callosities, rough patches of thickened skin on the whale’s head. Within the circles of callus tissue are sensory hairs that may help the whales find their prey. Callosities appear white against the whale's black skin and are covered with living blankets of light-bodied crustacean passengers or “whale lice."
Using photos of the whale’s heads, Rowntree and her colleagues have identified more than 4,000 individuals to date; many have been seen over spans of two-to-five decades and in many different years, with and without calves.
A Half Century Of Data
Early on, the researchers used a light plane which would circle low over groups of whales while a photographer snapped frames on 35mm-black-and-white and later, color film. Today, quadcopter drones are primarily used to photograph the whales. With a drone, researchers can hover over the water and wait for a whale to surface directly below, as opposed to flying in slow, tight circles over the water, hoping to be above a whale when it finally surfaces to breathe.
The wide range of data forms posed a challenge for ongoing work. When Rowntree moved to Utah, she found herself managing five filing cabinets with tens of thousands of 35mm film photos covering the first 34 years of the project. At risk of fire or other disasters, the collection had limited access, especially for her Argentine colleagues. Now, with the help of a grant from the Committee on Library Information Resources, the U’s Marriott Library has digitized the irreplaceable foundation of the project’s ever-growing database for scientists worldwide.
Tourist Whale Watching
Before the right whale project, there was only one whale watching company at Valdes Peninsula. Now there are five. The project has drawn increasing numbers of tourists worldwide to the area, as there is no other place to predictably see whales up close in their natural habitat. “This study contributes hugely to tourism because of the added value for the tourists going out on a boat,” Seger says. “There’s a naturalist [on board] who knows all this stuff.”
At its core, the project is a labor of love for local students. “Vicky saw early on,” says Seger, “that these wonderful young college-age volunteers who would show up to work for a few weeks should be raising their sights and thinking about getting PhDs and starting their own research projects. Now,” continues Seger, “… five or six have come to the States for graduate study with Vicky's encouragement and help in finding labs.”
Two of these students earned their PhDs at the U, and most are now faculty at different Argentine universities. They and their volunteers and students are now responsible for most of the frontline research work and represent the PV right whales nationally and internationally.
The project is now directed by the Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas, an Argentine non-profit founded in the 1990s, in collaboration with the American non-profit Ocean Alliance, which was founded by Payne in the 1970s.
A Living Legacy
With the digitization of the project’s analog photos and supporting data, Seger stresses that “this isn’t just a historical archive of some wonderful study that’s now fading back into the mists of history. It’s an ongoing research project that we all want to go on for another 50 years, at least.” As data accumulate each year, they show more and more clearly how the PV right whale population has continued to grow, despite serious ecological challenges.
The involvement and education of local students are crucial for the longevity of the project because, Rowntree says, “... [T]hey’re the ones that can affect the conservation of the right whales.” In addition to keeping the research project running, these young scientists advocate for the PV right whale population at International Whaling Commission meetings and influence policy changes that will conserve whales and their marine habitats.
Far from a relic, the research gets its power directly from its continuity, which has been sustained in large part by Vicky Rowntree’s unflagging curiosity and dedication for over half a century. <
All photos in this story are courtesy of Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas.
