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Glen Tepke | all galleries >> Endangered Species >> Endangered Mammals, Reptiles and Amphibians >> Blue Whale > Blue Whale
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Blue Whale

Balaenoptera musculus

Monterey Bay, California, USA, 8/25/03

Canon 10D, Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6 IS


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Glen Tepke27-Jun-2004 04:33
I contacted John Calambokidis as Katy suggested and this was his response:

"I wanted to let you know that the two blue whales we could identify from your photographs are both animals with long histories. The best side shot and one of the flukes belong to our ID#442 and the 2nd animal (IDed from flukes) is ID#1563. 442 was first identified in 1986 (in Monterey Bay). She has been seen multiple times over the years including in 1988 off Baja and at multiple locations off the California coast. She had a calf in 2002. #1563 was seen multiple times primarily off southern California in 1999, 2001, and 2002.
John Calambokidis
Research Biologist
Cascadia Research
www.cascadiaresearch.org"
Glen Tepke10-Feb-2004 16:04
Katy, Thanks for the comments. I'll contact John Calambokidis about the photos. The date on which each shot was taken is included in the text below the image. Glen
Katy Penland 10-Feb-2004 05:48
Hey, Glen, I was just enjoying your wonderful whale shots and saw this perfect ID shot of the blue whale in Monterey Bay. If you have the exact date you shot this animal, I know a whale researcher who would be most interested in knowing about your photo. His name is John Calambokidis and he's the Exec Dir of Cascadia Research in Olympia, WA. His email is: calambokidis@cascadiaresearch.org To photo ID individual blue whales, the pattern of the skin mottling around the dorsal fin is what researchers use, and it's not often you see shots as good as yours. Anyway, thought I'd let you know that in case you'd like to contribute to the knowledge database of these beautiful and rare whales.