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Wildlife Photo-identification
Photo-identification is a technique used to identify and track individuals of a wild animal study population over time. It relies on capturing photographs of distinctive characteristics such as skin or pelage patterns or scars from the animal. In cetaceans, the dorsal fin area and tail flukes are commonly used. Photo-identification is generally used as an alternative to other, invasive methods of tagging that require attaching a device to each individual. The technique enables precise counting, rather than rough estimation, of the number of animals in a population. It also allows researchers to perform longitudinal studies of individuals over many years, yielding data about the lifecycle, lifespan, migration patterns, and social relationships of the animals. Species that are studied using photo-identification techniques include: *Killer whales *Humpback whales *Whale sharks *Manta rays - see Manta Matcher *Octopuses ('' Wunderpus photogenicus'') *Salamanders *Giraffes See also * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humpback Whale Flukes Variation
Humpback may refer to: * Humpback whale * Humpback dolphin * Humpback salmon * Humpback bridge * Humpback, a common name for the fish ''Chanodichthys dabryi'' * Humpback, a variant of hunchback, a syndrome experienced by humans * Hump Back (Japanese band) is a Japanese all-female rock band formed in Higashiōsaka, Osaka in 2009. Lead vocalist and guitarist Momoko Hayashi has been the only constant member, with bassist Pika and drummer Misaki completing the lineup since 2016. Outline Momoko H ..., a three-member all-female Japanese rock band {{disambiguation, fish Animal common name disambiguation pages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cetaceans
Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel themselves through the water with powerful up-and-down movements of their tail, which ends in a paddle-like fluke, using their flipper-shaped forelimbs to steer. While the majority of cetaceans live in marine environments, a small number reside solely in brackish water, brackish or fresh water. Having a cosmopolitan distribution, they can be found in some rivers and all of Earth's oceans, and many species migrate throughout vast ranges with the changing of the seasons. Cetaceans are famous for cetacean intelligence, their high intelligence, complex social behaviour, and the enormous size of some of the group's members. For example, the blue whale reaches a maximum confirmed length of and a weight of 173 tonne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorsal Fin
A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found in most fish, in mammals such as whales, and in extinct ancient marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs. Most have only one dorsal fin, but some have two or three. Wildlife biologists often use the distinctive nicks and wear patterns which develop on the dorsal fins of whales to identify individuals in the field. The bones or cartilages that support the dorsal fin in fish are called pterygiophores. Functions The main purpose of the dorsal fin is usually to stabilize the animal against rolling and to assist in sudden turns. Some species have further adapted their dorsal fins to other uses. The sunfish uses the dorsal fin (and the anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longitudinal Study
A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of observational study, although it can also be structured as longitudinal randomized experiment. Longitudinal studies are often used in social-personality and clinical psychology, to study rapid fluctuations in behaviors, thoughts, and emotions from moment to moment or day to day; in developmental psychology, to study developmental trends across the life span; and in sociology, to study life events throughout lifetimes or generations; and in consumer research and political polling to study consumer trends. The reason for this is that, unlike cross-sectional study, cross-sectional studies, in which different individuals with the same characteristics are compared, longitudinal studies track the same people, and so the differences observed in those people ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Killer Whale
The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, it inhabits a wide range of marine environments, from Arctic to Antarctic regions to tropical seas. Orcas are apex predators with a diverse diet. Individual populations often specialize in particular types of prey, including fish, sharks, rays, and marine mammals such as seals, dolphins, and whales. They are highly social, with some populations forming stable matrilineal family groups (pods). Their sophisticated hunting techniques and vocal behaviors, often unique to specific groups and passed down from generation to generation, are considered to be manifestations of animal culture. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the orca's conservation status as data deficient as multiple orca types may re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humpback Whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the monotypic taxon, only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and tubercles on its head. It is known for Cetacean surfacing behaviour, breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watching, whale watchers. Males produce a complex Whale sound, song that typically lasts from 4 to 33 minutes. Found in oceans and list of seas, seas around the world, humpback whales typically animal migration, migrate between feeding areas towards the poles and breeding areas near the equator. They feed in Polar region, polar waters and migrate to tropics, tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth. Their diet consists mostly of krill and small fish, and they usually Bubble-net feeding, use bubbles to c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whale Sharks
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and porpoises. Dolphins and porpoises may be considered whales from a formal, Cladistics, cladistic perspective. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla, which consists of even-toed ungulates. Their closest non-cetacean living relatives are the hippopotamuses, from which they and other cetaceans diverged about 54 million years ago. The two parvorders of whales, baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti), are thought to have had their Most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor around 34 million years ago. Mysticetes include four Neontology, extant (living) Family (biology), families: Balaenopteridae (the rorquals), Balaenidae (right whales), Cetotheriid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manta Rays
Manta rays are large Batoidea, rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, ''Giant oceanic manta ray, M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, ''Reef manta ray, M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPectoral, pectoral fins, horn-shaped cephalic fins and large, forward-facing mouths. They are classified among the Myliobatiformes (stingrays and relatives) and are placed in the Family (biology), family Eagle ray, Myliobatidae (eagle rays). They have the largest brain-to-body ratio of all fish, and can pass the mirror test. Mantas are found in warm temperate, subtropical and tropical waters. Both species are Pelagic fish, pelagic; ''M. birostris'' Animal migration, migrates across open oceans, singly or in groups, while ''M. alfredi'' tends to be resident and coastal. They are filter feeders and eat large quantities of zooplankton, which they gather with their open mouths as they swim. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manta Matcher
Manta Matcher is a global online database for manta rays. Creation It is one of the Wildbook Web applications developed by Wild Me, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in the United States, and was created in partnership with Andrea Marshall of the Marine Megafauna Foundation. Manta rays have unique spot patterning on their undersides, which allows for individual identification. Scuba divers around the world can photograph mantas and upload their manta identification photographs to the Manta Matcher website, supporting global research and conservation efforts. Identification of rays Manta Matcher is a pattern-matching software that eases researcher workload; key spot pattern features are extracted using a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm, which can cope with complications presented by highly variable spot patterns and low contrast photographs. Purpose and research supported This citizen science tool is free to use by researchers worldwide. Manta Matcher re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wunderpus Photogenicus
''Wunderpus photogenicus'', the wunderpus octopus, is a small-bodied species of octopus with distinct white and rusty brown coloration. 'Wunderpus' from German "wunder" meaning 'marvel or wonder'. Due to the appearance and behavior of the wunderpus, it is frequently confused with its close relative, the mimic octopus. The wunderpus octopus was not discovered until the 1980s and was only officially described in detail in 2006. The wunderpus octopus is important commercially to the underwater photography, dive and tourism communities, especially throughout Indonesia. The wunderpus is also valued as an expensive ornamental marine species for the home aquarium. Appearance An adult wunderpus octopus displays an individually unique pattern of white spots and bands over a rusty brown background. Even though each body pattern is unique to the individual, generally all wunderpus octopuses display a circular pattern of about six white spots at the posterior lip of its Mantle (mollusc), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salamander
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela, the sole surviving order from the group Caudata. ''Urodela'' is a scientific Latin term based on the Ancient Greek : ourà dēlē "conspicuous tail". ''Caudata'' is the Latin for "tailed ones", from : "tail". Salamander diversity is highest in eastern North America, especially in the Appalachian Mountains; most species are found in the Holarctic realm, with some species present in the Neotropical realm. Salamanders never have more than four toes on their front legs and five on their rear legs, but some species have fewer digits and others lack hind limbs. Their permeable skin usually makes them reliant on habitats in or near water or other cool, damp places. So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giraffe
The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. It is classified under the Family (biology), family Giraffidae, along with its closest extant relative, the okapi. Traditionally, giraffes have been thought of as one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis'', with nine subspecies. Most recently, researchers proposed dividing them into four Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant species which can be distinguished by their fur Animal coat, coat patterns. Six valid Lists of extinct species, extinct species of ''Giraffa'' are known from the fossil record. The giraffe's distinguishing characteristics are its extremely long neck and legs, horn-like ossicones, and spotted coat patterns. Its scattered range extends from Chad in the north to South Africa in the south and from Niger in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
