WHY WE IDENTIFY WHALES
The story of photo-identification
How it started
Killer whales can live for many decades, making long-term studies essential to understanding their lives and ecology.
In the 1970s, the late Dr Michael Bigg and colleagues discovered that individual killer whales of the Northeastern Pacific could be recognized from photographs using the shape and nicks of their dorsal fins, together with the pigmentation and markings of their saddle patches.
This technique is known as photo-identification. By recognizing individuals over time, and keeping records of each time individuals get seen - where, when and with whom - researchers can follow their movements, social relationships, feeding behavior, health and life histories.
And, in Norway..?
Photo-identification of Norwegian killer whales began in the 1980s, pioneered by Dr Thomas Lyrholm and later Dr Tiu Similä, together with Dag Vongraven and Anna Bisther. For nearly two decades, they photographed the killer whales that followed Norwegian spring-spawning herring to their wintering grounds.
When herring shifted away from the fjords in the early 2000s, killer whale sightings - and photo-identification efforts - stopped. Photographic surveys led by Dr Sanna Kuningas in 2007-2008 added extra years to the existing long-term record.
In 2013, Norwegian Orca Survey established the first year-round monitoring of killer whales in northern Norway and continued the systematic collection of identification photographs.
Today, this growing catalogue forms the foundation of the killer whale research project in Norway, allowing us to follow individual whales and investigate their ecology, behaviour, health and lives over time.
Nicks and scars are permanent features that may last for decades - as observed for female NKW-0943 photographed in 1995 (left photograph, by Dr Tiu Similä) and again, in 2016 (right photograph, by Eve Jourdain/NOS).
From photographs to decades of history
Killer whales have now been individually photographed in Norway for decades. Norwegian Orca Survey brings these records together — and open the identification catalogue to everyone.
Today, photographs contributed by researchers, whale-watching operators and members of the public come together in this ever-growing record of Norway’s killer whales.
You can help us follow them
Every photograph has the potential to become a scientific record.
A whale you photographed today may be an individual we first met five, ten or even twenty years ago. It may be a familiar face resident of Norwegian fjords, or it may be a visitor from distant waters of the North Atlantic.
By contributing your photographs, you help us identify individuals, uncover unexpected connections and piece together their life histories.