Then there is the compulsory whale-watching. I shall
not inflict any whale photographs on you, except one in connection with a
remarkable research project which, I was told, aims to photograph the tails of
humpback whales all over the Pacific including up and down the east coast of
Australia, in order to identify and monitor individual whales. This
depends on the scientific fact that the tails of all whales, like human
fingerprints, are distinctive, no two whales having the same pattern. I
would not have thought they could be certain of that until they had
photographed an awful lot of whales, but I suppose they know what they’re
doing. From my limited experienced of whale researchers, many are female
and North American, like these, I believe.
