Alternative Africa

Top Menu

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

logo

Alternative Africa

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
  • Former French president, Sarkozy sentenced to three years in jail for corruption

  • Ghana to distribute covid vaccines by drone, UPS

  • Ghana president, Akufo-Addo, wife, VP Bawumia take covid vaccine on TV ahead of national rollout

  • Ghana to administer Coronavirus vaccines free in all hospitals as VP takes first shot

  • France authorises first synthetic antibody treatment for severe Covid-19

News Now
Home›News Now›Trilobites: Tracking the Elusive Whale Shark

Trilobites: Tracking the Elusive Whale Shark

By alternativeafrica
November 29, 2017
731
0
Share:

The study is a collaboration of three dozen of the world’s top whale shark experts and thousands of citizen-scientists — mostly snorkeling ecotourists who snap photographs and video as they swim alongside the behemoths.

Giving tourists the opportunity to participate in science is fun and empowering, and deepens their commitment to conservation, said Darcy Bradley, a postdoctoral researcher at University of California Santa Barbara.

“The fact that we can all be citizen scientists is a really important and special thing,” said Dr. Bradley, who was not involved in the paper, but gets regular emailed updates when whale sharks she’s submitted to the database get spotted again. “We need more stewards for the environment.”

The animals that have been spotted are mostly juvenile males, measuring about 12 to 21 feet, although a site in the Galápagos recorded mostly females. It’s not clear where the adults live, though it is presumed that they are in the open ocean, said Dr. Brad Norman, the paper’s first author.

Whale sharks are covered with spots and can be individually identified by the pattern of spots on their sides, just behind the gills, above the pectoral fin, said Dr. Norman, also founder and principal research scientist with Ecocean, a nonprofit based in Western Australia.

Photo

A whale shark in Indonesia. The bus-sized creatures feed on plankton. Credit Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild, via Getty Images

A scientist or tourist can take a picture or video of a whale shark — ideally from its left side — then upload the image to www.whaleshark.org. There it is analyzed and compared to the 30,000 other images and either matched or confirmed as a new individual.

“The ability to photo-identify species — and indeed the whale shark was the first shark we could do this for — has transformed our ability to understand how many individuals are out there, who is moving where, how far do they go, and how many are staying around,” said Nicholas Dulvy, a professor of marine biodiversity and conservation at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, who was not involved in the research.

Continue reading the main story

Dr. Dulvy is also co-chairman of the shark specialist group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which develops environmental management policies and best practices.

Whale sharks were declared endangered last year after their numbers apparently dwindled. They are often illegally fished or caught as by-catch along with tuna, Dr. Dove said. Many are also struck by ships. Unlike whales, their bodies sink, so it is hard to know how many are hit, he said, describing the animals as gentle, polka-dotted and slow-moving. “This is a shark that lives in first gear,” he said.

The juvenile males don’t appear to migrate much, Dr. Norman said, with many seen repeatedly in the same region, and not much mixing across the hot spots.

The lack of sightings of fully mature adults means scientists don’t have a good idea of what the animals are doing, where they are living or their mating habits. Whale sharks are unlikely to have specific grounds where they give birth, because of long gestation periods, and the fact that no more than one or two pups have been found in the same place and time, the study said.

Even their numbers are a mystery. Worldwide, estimates of the population range from about 20,000 to about 200,000 whale sharks, Dr. Dulvy said.

In captivity, where scientists see the animals over time, it becomes clear that they have distinctive personalities, Dr. Dove said. “We get to know the bossy one, the shy guy.”

Though less familiar, some of the wild animals have been seen enough to earn nicknames, he said, citing two in Mexico: Rio Lady, and Keyhole, who has a distinctive hole on one fin. “They begin to have stories and narratives and lives that you can follow along with,” he said. “That’s one of the things that adds a layer of fun for the citizen-scientist.”

Dr. Norman, who is in the Maldives studying whale sharks, said there’s nothing like the joy of being near the animals — or watching first timers do it. “You’re swimming with the biggest fish in the sea. Sometimes you’re in water hundreds of meters deep,” he said. As long as a person stays 10 to 15 feet away from the animal’s path and does not try to touch it, swimming alongside the animals should be safe.

“They’re so graceful, they’re so beautiful,” he said. “All fear or trepidation goes and you’re just in awe.”

Continue reading the main story

SHARE ON:
TagsAfricaBioScienceBreakingDove, AlistairEndangered and Extinct SpeciesGeorgia AquariumNewsOceans and SeasSharks
Previous Article

WHO fears complacency as progress against malaria ...

Next Article

Emmanuel Macron Says Return of African Artifacts ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

alternativeafrica

Related articles More from author

  • News Now

    Uganda and Ghana draw 0-0 in Kampala to hand Egypt World Cup advantage

    October 7, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • News NowWorld

    Pressure weighs on Mugabe to quit after mass protests

    November 19, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Fourth U.S. Soldier Is Found Dead After Ambush in Niger

    October 6, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • BusinessNews Now

    Britain’s belated charm offensive in Africa

    September 1, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Hunting the shipwrecks of the slave trade

    December 12, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • AfricaHealthNews Now

    Kenya, DRC, Egypt, driving second wave of covid-19 in Africa

    October 30, 2020
    By alternativeafrica

Leave a reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might be interested

  • BusinessNews Now

    Nigeria: ICPC, Chartered Institute of Taxation declare war on tax offenders

  • AfricaBusinessNews Now

    Nigeria, other African countries need $700b yearly to finance SDGs

  • AfricaNews NowPolitics

    Nigeria: Donald Duke to challenge removal as SDP presidential candidate

Timeline

  • March 1, 2021

    Former French president, Sarkozy sentenced to three years in jail for corruption

  • March 1, 2021

    Ghana to distribute covid vaccines by drone, UPS

  • March 1, 2021

    Ghana president, Akufo-Addo, wife, VP Bawumia take covid vaccine on TV ahead of national rollout

  • March 1, 2021

    Ghana to administer Coronavirus vaccines free in all hospitals as VP takes first shot

  • March 1, 2021

    France authorises first synthetic antibody treatment for severe Covid-19

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Morocco begins regional integration by connecting Casablanca Airport with High Speed Train

    By alternativeafrica
    January 4, 2020
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Nigeria: 32,000 capacity Lagos rice mill to start production in 2020

    By alternativeafrica
    December 23, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack followed a ...
AlternativeAfrica.com is an independent Pan African News Website dedicated primarily to influencing the negative narratives about Africa. We hope to do this by focusing and showcasing the many developmental strides sweeping across the continent.

Read more >>>

Contact Info

  • info@alternativeafrica.com
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Former French president, Sarkozy sentenced to three years in jail for corruption

    By alternativeafrica
    March 1, 2021
  • Ghana to distribute covid vaccines by drone, UPS

    By alternativeafrica
    March 1, 2021
  • Ghana president, Akufo-Addo, wife, VP Bawumia take covid vaccine on TV ahead of national rollout

    By alternativeafrica
    March 1, 2021
  • Ghana to administer Coronavirus vaccines free in all hospitals as VP takes first shot

    By alternativeafrica
    March 1, 2021
  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Macron in Ivory Coast to launch anti-terrorism academy

    By alternativeafrica
    December 21, 2019
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...

Photostream

    Follow us

    • Home
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
    © Copyright Alternative Africa 2019. All rights reserved.