Whale Behavior Observation

A new experiment we are doing in science class is observing whales. We are to observe everything about them such as how far out they are in the ocean, how many their are, how many adults and how many calfs, their behaviors in the waters, and other things observed. Each person in the class made their own research question and hypothesis that they would like to test out.

The information that I would like to know about was how the whales behaved. My question was this:

Is there more whale activity at the beginning of the season or the end?

My hypothesis that I have created was that I think the whales will be more active towards the end of the whale season because they will naturally get more familiar with the area they are living/swimming in. Also, there will be newborns that will probably feel "shy" and getting to know their habitat, and I feel they will become more knowledgeable and comfortable towards the end of the season.

The first chance I got to observe and test this hypothesis was at McGregor's Point. At this spot, we collected our first data. I thought that there was going to be more activity from the whales, honestly. It was okay though because I did see a lot of spouts, dives, and one (sort of) breach! Out in the ocean I looked at mothers and calfs together, along with males in groups of a bunch of whales. I looked through the clinometer my partner and I made to locate the angle at which the whales were and they were normally within the 80 to 90 degrees. I saw that the whales were also moving within a southeast direction. My favorite part about this experience was noticing all the different whales and seeing sea turtles, along with a mantaray out in the water. The most challenging part about this spot was finding the correct angle when we used our clinometer. It kept showing our whales at 90 degrees but we knew that it was not an accurate answer so we had to keep trying. Observing from this point, to me, wasn't THE best but it was a very cool starting point! I cannot wait till we can observe the whales on our whale watch!

Here are the pictures from our first watch!

This is the lighthouse or watchtower at McGreggors Point.

Kahanulani Mina spotting whales through our clinometer and determining the angle.

Hard to see, but it is a whale and a spout.

Determining the angle and then the distance of the whales using the clinometer is not hard, just follow this procedure:

1. Spot your whale (Picture three above).
2. Once spotted, look through the eyepiece on the top of the clinometer straight at the whale. Do not move. Let a partner look at the angle shown on your clinometer by the string and weight (As seen in picture two above).
3. Write record the angle. You will need it in order to determine the distance of the whale (s). 
4. Next, find on your GPS the height of elevation at which you currently are at when spotting the whale. Write it down. 
5. Now, plug in your answers into this formula: Distance= Elevation x Tan(Degrees). There you will get your distance.
• For Example:
• If you have 85 degrees as your angle on your clinometer, and the GPS shows your height at 100 feet, your equation would look like this: Distance= 100ft x tan(85)
• Calculate it, and your answer would be: Distance= 1143.0 Feet (away from you)

Other cool whale photos!

(not my photos)

http://www.whalewatchmaui.com/images/breach18.jpg

http://www.whaletrust.org/kids_korner/images/humpback_female-and-calf2.jpg

http://martywolff.cdn3.mirahost.com/public/uploads/content/10/calf.jpg

On the 2nd of March 2011, we went on our second observation adventure, a whale watch! This gave me plenty of whales to observe and the range of activity was way better than McGregor’s Point. This data helped me conclude and put the two data's together creating this graph:

This graph is showing how the whale activity observed was greater towards the end of the season (March) than it was in the beginning. The levels represent their activity with one being the lowest like swimming, spouting, and diving and going all the way up to level four activity which is breaching.

The possible sources of error that I could have come across in this experience was: the incorrect correlation of pod types, direction of travel, time being inaccurate, how we were at two different data points, one we were going to the whales, other we were trying to find them. 

Here are some pictures from the whale watch! 

Whale Watch Ready!

Whale Spout

Whale Tail

Mr. Marggraf
Our AWESOME Science Teacher

Looking back on the whale watch I remember that it was a great experience. I liked how we actually go out to study the animals up close and also had a guide with us as well. There were many whales to observe and many activities. It was really neat way to learn more about whales.