Breakthrough in humpback dolphin identification

Posted on 12 June 2020

The ability to identify an individual humpback dolphin is key in understanding their population dynamics, movements, and conservation biology. Until now, the only way marine biologists were able to identify these majestic animals are through comparing pictures of their dorsal fins, according to Zululand Observer.

Humpback dolphins have unique dorsal fins.

The need to understand these dolphins’ patterns are of utmost importance as their habitat, which spans across a narrow strip of shallow coastal water from the southern tip of Africa to the southern tip of India, is quickly becoming degraded due to fishing vessel traffic, prey depletion, and environmental contaminants.

Now, with the help of a non-profit wildlife conservation organisation called WildMe and over 35 different humpback dolphin researchers, marine biologist might have come up with a new way to identify individual humpback dolphins.

An astonishing 1,200 photo-ID images of the dolphins’ dorsal fins nicks and notches, scars and colour patterns on and around the fin were gathered from 35 humpback dolphin researchers from eight countries, including South Africa, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Iran and India. 569 of these images were supplied by South Africa’s SouSA Consortium.

Photographs of the dolphins’ unique dorsal fins allow biologists to recognise individual dolphins. All 1,200 images were then added into Flukebook, a platform which uses a combination of advanced algorithms and machine learning to examine the distinctive features to assess if that particular individual has been photographed before.

Along with being able to identify humpback dolphins, Flukebook is also able to recognise photos of humpback whales, bottlenose dolphins and whale sharks.

Adding humpback dolphins to this list of identifiable animals was welcomed by the International Whaling Commission, who acknowledges the fact that the dolphins are in a dire situation.

Image: Twitter/ @Gaia_Pedia






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