Hawaiian Humpback whales are an endangered species our class has been learning about. Other than collecting research on the whaling, laws about whales, and the animals themselves, we have also included an observation from McGregor's point. The purpose of our lab is to observe and better understand Hawaiian Humpback whales.
Question: Are there more Humpback Whales in Maui during the beginning of the season or towards the end?
Hypothesis: I predict there to be more humpback whales present towards the end of the season compared to the beginning. If so, we will observe more whales during later observations.
Procedure:
1. Find a partner2. Collect materials
3. Record number of whales observed
4. Record pod type5. Record behaviors observed
6. Find direction of travel using compass7. Record est. distance using clinometer.
During our observation at McGregor's, my group and I saw about 7 different whales. There was a competition pod, a few mothers and calves, and of course...those flyin' solo. I didn't think I'd really see any; I hadn't realized that if you sit and watch for a while you'll see a lot more than expected. The biggest challenge was getting an accurate read on our clinometer due to the really windy spot. Otherwise, I think we worked well as a group of three. I found it to be overall exciting.
To find the Estimated distance from shore, we used clinometer's we used in class.
The formula we used is Distance= Elevation of Observation x (Tan) Angle of Inclination
Above: A graph created to differentiate the average whale observations from each date.
The purpose of this lab was to find whether more whales can be observed at the beginning of their season or the end on Maui. My hypothesis was that there will be more whales now (towards the end of the season), than earlier this year. My prediction was right; we observed many more whales last time than during our initial observation.
On the whale watch, our class observed many whales during our window of opportunity to record. If you don't mind sun, water, or boats, it couldn't be that horrible. I enjoyed having more than an hour to get to know my classmates, and I think it always helps when working together in the future. Overall, I think the whale watch trip was a success.
