Research Project

In this project, the incidence of predator attack on eastern Australian humpback whales was investigated. More than 2,500 fluke identification photographs from 1,000 individual whales were examined for evidence of predatory attack. Photographs were obtained at various locations along the whales' north-south migration route from northern Queensland to southern New South Wales, from 1984 through 1996. Photographs were classified into categories of no obvious scarring, non-predator scarring, possible predator scarring, and minor, moderate and major predator scarring. The possible predator involved (e.g. killer whales, sharks) and whether the markings appeared recent (exposed and/or raw flesh were also noted.

Publication