View A Whale's Tail: Across the Miles in a larger map
Today, we saw two humpback whales. The scientists think it was Rain and Thunder. Can you tell us if we were right?
Watch the video Research Team Finds a Humpback Whale. The video shows Jeff Corwin out on a small research boat. We are doing something very similar to Corwin when we look for whales.
Challenge #3
1. How deep is the water at this location?
2. What do you think causes the marks on humpback whale flukes?
3. How far away do people have to be from humpback whales?
Yes! Great job scientist on the research cruise. The two whales that you spotted were really Rain and Thunder!
ReplyDelete1. We think the water is more than 15,000 feet deep. Using the map, we weren't sure if the boat was in the purple or blue area.
2. Predictions....
*Moss from the bottom of the sea
*They scratch it on the boats that are in the sea
*Maybe they get cut by the motors
*Maybe they get scratched when they dive down deep and hit the coral reefs
*Maybe sharks bite them
*When they splash their fins in the water, maybe it makes them bruise
*Maybe they hit their tails on rocks on the bottom
We did learn from the video that flukes are like peoples' fingerprints - each whale has a unique one.
We still need to locate the scientic answer, but weren't finding what we wanted on the Internet.
3. Actually, the humpback whales come to us because they are curious about objects in their environment. It's sort of neat how the boat can't move until the whale does.
Good ideas! Many of the thoughts you had about what causes the scratches are right. Just like us, their skin can be scratched and forms scars. So, not even whales have perfect skin! :)
ReplyDelete