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| Orca Research Collective of Antarctica (ORCA) |
Identifying individuals from natural markings
Killer whales can be individually identified from photographs of cuts and nicks along the dorsal fin, as well as from rake marks on the grey patch located immediately behind the dorsal fin, known as the "saddle patch". This technique, widely known as photo-identification, allows us to study several aspects of killer whale's life history, including group composition, associations between individuals and, on the longer term, population parameters such as abundance, birth, and death rates. By comparing photographs taken in different encounters, it also allows us to identify short to long-range movements of individuals among areas, their fidelity to specific regions, and their home ranges. We will use digital SLR cameras to photo-identify killer whales in the study area primarily to study group composition and behavioural preferences, distribution, movement patterns and site fidelity. Photographs of individuals will be compared to killer whale catalogues from other research groups working in the Antarctic for the same purposes.
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